Zeroes and Fives
by DeltaWing13
Summary: Set after the movie. After doing a bit of digging around, Saten and Uiharu close in on the identity of the Level Zero. Meanwhile, turmoil consumes the Dark Side of Academy City, and some magicians from Europe pay a visit to Kamijou. Touma x Saten. Prepare for laughs! Up for Adoption.
1. Prologue

**AN: Jesus Christ, my brain needs to shut up and let me finish my other stories… Anyways, here's my… 8th (?) story, and 7th currently in progress. Enjoy…**

 **(Btw, this is based off the anime and manga, not the light novel. This, I'm not aware of all the dates and stuff. Just put this in after all the events in the anime.)**

..

 _177th Judgement Branch Office_

"Uiharu?" a glasses-wearing woman stuck her head out from above a cubicle.

"Yes, Konori-senpai?"

The response came from a short girl wearing flowers in her hair, her eyes glued to her computer screen.

Konori glanced around the room, then at her watch. "Where's Shirai? It's nearly noon…"

This caused Uiharu to look up. Blinking thoughtfully, she widened her eyes. "I think Tokiwadai's having another semester's esper testing, right? Anyways, what did you want to talk about?"

The woman mouthed an 'oh', before frowning. "Uiharu, have you heard the rumors? About that Level 0?"

Uiharu nodded slowly, tapping away at the computer. "I can look into it, but I think it'd be better if I ask my friend Saten. She's kinda an expert at rumors."

The dark-haired Judgement officer nodded in satisfaction. "Alright. Make sure you look into it today."

..

"Such Misfortune…"

Kamijou Touma sighed deeply, hunching over with his schoolbag slung over his shoulder. He trudged along the packed sidewalk, stopping as he looked at the park with a certain vending machine. "Hopefully Biri-biri won't be there. That's the only way this day can get worse."  
The cause of his depression was the fact that Index had ended up gnawing on his head when he woke up, which was an hour late for school. This in turn led to him running to school, getting involved with yet another gang fight on the way, and getting beaten up by Fukiyose. After that…

Yeah. A lot of stuff happened.

Slowly, he made his way to the the stone railing, and sat down with a groan. The table was occupied by two girls, so he decided to just sit there. "Finally… A break for this poor Kamijou."

Meanwhile, the two aforementioned girls were Uiharu and her friend, Saten Ruiko, the latter of which was speaking animatedly.

"You really wanna hear about that?" the middle schooler asked, practically bouncing in her seat. "About the Level Zero?!"  
Uiharu nodded calmly whilst sipping on her drink, used to her friend's boundless energy. At least when it came to certain things. Studying, not so much…

"Awesome! You remember when I told you about the Level Zero defeating the Number One and Misaka-san?" Saten asked, beaming. Without waiting for a reply, she continued. "Well, now there's a lot more! Like how he shot down the Tree Diagram, fought Number Seven, associates with vampires, ghosts, and even angels! And the terrorists attacks, they say he was also involved in them, too!"  
A little it behind Uiharu, a certain unlucky high schooler, was now choking on his drink.

"And though they aren't directly linked, not publically at least, there's also this boy who shows up whenever someone's in trouble, saving them. They say each appearance has similar characteristics; spiky hair, and new hospital bandages around some part of his body. There's also a cry of 'Such Misfortune' and a grocery bag, sometimes. He's never used an esper ability, though…"

This time, the unlucky boy accidentally broke the tip of his pencil as he was trying to do homework. "Am I… really like that?"

This made Uiharu pause, looking up. "Do you really think they're the same people?"

Saten thought for a bit, and flipped her phone open. Motioning for Uiharu to sit next to her, she opened up a spreadsheet she had created. "See? The timing of the events we know of never coincide with the second rumor, and their both level zeroes. In both rumors, there hasn't been even a single death, not even when the terrorists attacked!" She then swiped to another page; a blurry image of a spiky-haired boy standing in spotlights. He was in the Underground Mall, and there was destruction everywhere, including a large hole. The next image showed the same boy- or someone who looked remarkably similar despite the blurriness- standing up to some thugs in a dark alleyway.

Uiharu drew a sharp breath. "That picture, in the Underground Mall! I overheard Yomikawa-san talking to Konori-senpai about a weird boy there, at the Underground Mall!"

This time it was Saten's turn to be surprised, as she looked up at her friend, eyes sparkling. "Really?! Let's ask her about the Level Zero!"

Uiharu agreed, and the two quickly left.

The only person left in the park was Touma, whose mouth moved silently, eyes widened. "They can't be talking about… me, can they?" Then, he was reminded of his terrible luck by the pigeon passing by overhead, which decided that it was a good time to do a number two.

"... Such Misfortune…"

..

"Is it ready?"

"Yes, Kazuo."

"Good. What about the Hero?"

"We've swept the outer districts. We'll begin on District Seven next week."

"...Thank you, Fuyuko. I trust we'll find him soon…"

"Yes. I look forward to that day, as do the others."  
"Don't we all…"

..

A blond boy sat on the windowsill of a random building, gazing out into city. He held a phone to his ear, grinning widely.

"Yes, yes, Kanzaki. Index LIbrorum Prohibitorum is still very much alive, and I imagine she'll be pleased to see you all as well."

"...?"

"Oh, don't worry. I'm sure Imagine Breaker will figure _something_ out."

"...!?"  
"Hmm? Well, I can't very well take you guys in, I'm a spy! Besides, I'm sure it will be interesting to watch."

"...!"

"I didn't hear a no~"

"..."

"Haha, given up already? Oh well, see you around, Kanzaki!"

Snickering at the protests of indignation from his device, Tsuchimikado flipped his phone shut, and stared into the bright sky. "Looks like you'll have some company soon, Kamijou!"

..

 **Yay…** _ **Another**_ **story on my to-do list…**

 **Anyways, I hope you liked the prologue. See you next time!**


	2. Morning Misfortune

**AN: Yeah… Well, I'm gonna respond to the comments I can, 'cuz almost all of them are guest comments. So,**

 **Guest 1: Thank you for that. I will implement it later.**

 **Xperior: Thank you…**

 **Guest 2: Genderbended Accelerator? I'll… see what I can do…(It's my first time hearing that concept… 0_0)**

 **Guest 3: I read that! It was EPIC. I should probably go to the link for the ending, though…**

 **Anyways, Enjoy the story!**

..

It was ten minutes since the bell rang, signaling the start of the school day. Footsteps echoed down the hallway, as a group of three walked to their destination: Year One's Class Seven.

At the forefront was a blue-haired teacher, Yomikawa Aiho. Behind her, were two Judgement members, Uiharu and Konori. Due to… certain complications, Kuroko was busy today as well.

Having reached their goal, Yomikawa slammed the door open, startling the class inside.

"Yomikawa-sensei, what's wrong?" the short pink-haired girl asked nervously, eyeing the Judgement armbands on the two behind her colleague.

"It's nothing, Komoe-sensei," the she replied, waving her hand carelessly.

The two behind Yomikawa blinked, then looked between the two. 'This little girl is the teacher?!"

Noting their reactions, the blue-haired woman stifled a laugh and forged onwards. "Is Kamijou Touma here?"

This triggered a variety of responses, most of them not… positive ones.

Komoe, in response to the question, shook her head.

Tsuchimikado and Aogami fell out of their seats, but got back up nearly instantly. "Dammit, has the Kami-yan Disease extended to the teachers and Judgement as well?!" the blond wailed, pounding his desk with his fists.

"Kamijou, you traitor!" Aogami joined in, as the two discussed this newfound development.

Fukiyose slammed her hands on the desk as she stood up. "I knew Kamijou being late today was bad! What did he do this time?!"

A certain Deep Blood user looked at the empty desk, then proceeded out the door silently, unnoticed by everyone else.

Most of the remaining students shrugged these off, but a few of the girls reddened whenever 'Kamijou' and 'harem' popped up in the same sentence during Tsuchimikado and Aogami's discussion.

Yomikawa merely sighed at the noise, rubbing her forehead exasperatedly. The two Judgement members opened their mouths to speak, hesitated, and exchanged glances.

Finally, a tick mark appeared on the Iron Wall Girl, as she slammed both of the troublemakers' heads into their respective desks. "Shut up and let Komoe-sensei talk, idiots!"  
This caused everyone to turn and look at the petite adult, who grew flustered. "Ah… Th-thank you, Fukiyose-san… A-anyways, we haven't received a notice from Kamijou yet, so I don't know what he's doing…"

Tsuchimikado raised his hand lazily, smirking. "I do, sensei. I talked to him last night, and he was begging me to do some stuff for him. Namely, when certain people," he turned to smile cheekily at the people who still stood by the door. "came, to buy him time to jump out the window. He didn't show up, though."

Uiharu's eyes widened. "Jump out the window?! And how did he know we were coming?!" Immediately, she covered her mouth with both hands as she blushed from her outburst.

Tsuchimikado simply smiled like a Cheshire cat, shrugged, and sat down silently.

Not long after that, the chaos would soon resume.

..

Yawning, Touma stretched as he rose from his bathtub, checking his phone. "What time is it…!"  
His eyes widened, and he clambered out of the bathroom. The unfortunate boy glared at his freeloader, who was staring at the TV with empty bags of food scattered across the floor. A speck of black drew his eyes, as he turned to look at the soot marks.

"Index, what the heck happened?" Then, he noticed it was in the kitchen. "Did the microwave explode?"

Alarmed at his awakening, Index twiddled her thumbs sheepishly. "I was bringing some food from the counter, and bumped the alarm clock. It got messy, so I tried washing it in the sink, and then it started sparking, so I panicked and tossed it back into the sink. Then it… blew up."

Most people would have reacted to this in a panicky fashion, such as cries of, 'Are you STUPID?!', or something like that. However, Kamijou was not a normal person. Instead, he focused on something more important.

"Dammit, I'm late for school! Such Misfortune…"

..

20 minutes later, a panting boy arrived in the classroom, startling the people in it. Rushing to his desk, he nodded an apology to his teacher. "Sorry Komoe-sensei! My alarm clock blew up."

Instantly, a pair of hands slammed onto his desk, making him flinch. Slowly, his gaze went up and fixated on Fukiyose's face, skillfully avoiding staring at her chest through past experiences.

"Do you really expect me to believe that?" Fukiyose demanded, crossing her arms. Her only response was Kamijou hesitating, then nodding.

Before she could make him join his two friends lying beaten and bruised on the floor, somebody cleared their throat behind them.

"E-excuse me…" Uiharu interrupted nervously. "Are you Kamijou Touma?"  
Not noticing the Judgement armband, he nodded again. "Yeah, that's me. Why?"

Instead of her, Konori replied instead. "We have some stuff we want to ask you about, so can you come with us?"

The spiky-haired boy shook his head. Before they could protest, he raised his hand placatingly. "Can you wait until class is over? This unlucky Kamijou can only spare so many of his classes in remedial class."

Yomikawa grinned, and shook her head. "No can do, Touma. They're Judgement, y'know."

Immediately, he froze. The level 0 had not noticed her presence in his hurry. But, if she was here… and they were Judgement…

"I totally forgot about that! Such Misfortune!" he yelled, startling the two girls as he scrambled out of his seat, and opened the window, foot on the windowsill. Before he could jump out, a hand reached out and grabbed his ankle.

Not that he felt it. Thus, he jumped out without hesitation, and was suddenly halted by the hand, making his face slam into the window of the classroom below.

"H-hold up! This Kamijou hasn't done anything wrong!" he yelled frantically, looking back up to see Yomikawa holding onto him by the ankle.

"Then why are you running?" she responded coolly, as if someone hanging by their ankle a two stories above ground level was normal. Which, if it came to _him_ , almost everything was.

"That's…" Kamijou tried, and failed to find a retort. Instead, he started knocking on the window his face had just smashed into. When it finally opened, he grabbed the edges and pulled himself in.

"Sorry for intruding, but I don't have time to explain!" he exclaimed frantically, before turning his back to the stunned class, preparing to jump out the window again. Before he did, he turned to the shocked girl who had opened the window for him. "Thank you for that. I promise I'll make it up to you someday!"

WIth that, he leaped from the second floor, this time successfully, and took off.

..

Back in the classroom, the boys- led by Tsuchimikado and Aogami- were taking bets on how far he would get.

"Ok, so 8 bets saying Kami-yan will get caught immediately, 5 saying it'll be in an hour or less, and 0 saying he won't be caught until tomorrow." Tsuchimikado exclaimed gleefully, scribbling names down on the whiteboard, Aogami right besides him.

Behind them, the girls were scowling at the boys' 'stupid behaviour', but a few of them decided to take bets themselves. They all placed them in the final category, more than a few of them looking flustered as they did so.

Yomikawa had brought out two bottles of beer, and was currently trying to convince her fellow teacher to take the second one.

The Judgement members looked around the carefree class, then back at the open window. "Is this… normal?" Uiharu whispered hesitantly, to which Konori shrugged.

"When it comes to Touma, it is."

The two of them spun around, and stared at the speaker. Said speaker was Himegami Aisa, who had gotten right next to them unnoticed. She was also holding three bags of hamburgers, one of which she was eating. "Noticing their surprised looks, she sighed, and gazed out the window, setting the bags down on her desk, and turned back to them.

"Whenever he sees someone in trouble, he always saves them, without a thought. Be it from thugs, psychos, Level 4s and 5s, or… murderers…" At that, she began toying with the rosario hung around her neck absentmindedly. She shook her head, and let it settle back behind her uniform. "He's also basically a misfortune magnet, except for with girls. His life's a lot like a dating sim, though he doesn't realize it. Touma's as dense as a rock in that aspect…" she trailed off, laughing lightly, before returning to the question. "But that wasn't what you were asking, was it? Well, the point was, he gets into trouble. Like, a LOT. But if you need someone to count on, in any situation, he's the guy to ask"

With that, she picked her bags back up, and wandered off, soon swallowed by the crowds.

..

 **This was fun. So yeah, this'll also be a one-sided harem, in case you didn't notice. And if you were wondering why Saten wasn't in this chapter, don't worry. She'll be in the next one.**


	3. The Chase!

**AN: Please note that I probably will not be updating as often as I am now. This is just because I have some fresh ideas, and I wanna get them out there before I forget. Also, as for the comment questioning the two people who opened windows, let me explain.**

 **Kamijou was on the 3rd floor when he jumped out. Yomikawa grabbed his ankle, so his face slammed into the window on floor 2, directly below his classroom. Then, the aforementioned girl opened** _ **that**_ **window for him. And as for who that person was, it's a secret.**

 **Anyways, enjoy the story!**

..

"Oh, come on!"

Saten Ruiko, middle schooler. Current level, 0. Earlier that day, ten minutes after the bell, to be exact, she had asked to go to the nurse's office due to a stomachache. Instead, she had snuck out of school, and headed to Judgement's 177th Branch Office, hoping to catch Uiharu in time.

No such luck. Instead, she had ran into an empty building.

Saten sighed, and flopped onto the couch near the entrance. "I was hoping to see that guy, too…"

Then, she perked up, getting an idea. Quickly, she crossed the room to her friend's computer, and opened it. What she saw made her frown.

"What's her username and password?"

Knowing that the hacker had probably put in something memorable, she spammed everything she could think of.

"UiharuKazari, Judgement177, ThermosHand, Level1…" she mumbled as she typed, scratching her head. "This is impossible!"

After a few more minutes, the computer had locked itself, making Saten lean back into the chair in exasperation.

Just as she did, Kuroko teleported into the room. "As expected, Onee-sama's power was so great, it took them 30 minutes to scale it!" she declared proudly, before noticing there was only one other person in the room. And that person wasn't supposed to be here.

"Saten-san? Why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be in school?"

Saten blinked slowly, panicking mentally. "Umm… No school… today?" she finished weakly, her voice trailing off.

Kuroko narrowed her eyes, but her phone started buzzing before she could chase the subject.

"Yes, Uiharu?"

This got Saten's attention. 'Wait, why didn't I find out where she was by our phones?'

"You picked up! Shirai-san, there's someone we're looking for about 30 minutes ago, but he jumped out the third-story window when we got there! He's probably still somewhere in the 7th district, so can you try to find him?"

"Got it. Send me his photo, ok?"

With that, the pigtailed girl flipped her phone closed, and looked over at her other friend, whose eyes were widened. "We'll get back to this later."

Before Saten could react, she flickered off. Of course, from what she heard, there's no way she can stop; this was nothing but a mild obstruction in the face of the greatest mystery of the century!

With this in mind, she ran out the door.

..

Due to his various misadventures in the city which, arguably, has the largest network of alleyways, Touma had grown accustomed to said alleyways, more so than the law-enforcers, or even the thugs that live in them.

Despite that, he still seemed to have an uncanny ability to find dead ends.

"Such Misfortune" the teen cried, looking for a way to continue on before his pursuers caught up. After a second's hesitation, he leaped onto a metal trash can, and caught himself just barely on the fire escape above that, clambering up. Once he regained balance, he tossed himself onto the other side of the fence, and resumed running.

On the original side, two people appeared, one of them panting hard. "Uiharu, where is he now? This is a dead end!"

This was said to a device held by Konori, who was exhausted. The phone delivered a pause, before responding. "Sorry, sensei. The camera just picked him up entering a park one block down. Anyways, I just sent Kuroko out, so we should catch him soon."

Yomikawa, looking as if she hadn't _also_ been running for half an hour without rest, pulled out her own phone. "Hold up, I have an idea." Turning to the other direction, she smiled deviously. "Misaka? Do you want to see the Saviour again?"

"YES, Misaka Misaka agrees happily, as Misaka Misaka jumps up and down on the couch."

"Great, then get Accelerator to look for him, right now. And Yoshikawa, if she's not busy."

"Will do, Misaka Misaka exclaims as Misaka Misaka salutes despite knowing you can't see her!"

Chuckling at her enthusiasm, Yomikawa turns back around to her colleague, whose phone was still open to Uiharu. "Well, we just got three helpers. We might want to find him before the Number One does, though. Otherwise they might fight again. Accelerator'll survive, though, since Kamijou really tries to keep from killing."

"Wh-what…" Uiharu's fearful voice floated through the device, alarmed. "Are you saying he really _did_ beat the Number One?!" Konori paled, her mouth moving silently.

Numerous shouts came from the other side, as well as the occasional sound of Komoe trying to quiet them.

Yomikawa nodded, heading back down the alleyway. Over her shoulder, she tossed one last comment that made Konori turn white as a sheet, before bolting after her senior.

"Yup. I don't think the city will survive another fight, though."

..

"Frenda, Kinuhata, Takitsubo, we have another job!" Mugino called out, sitting lazily on the couch. At this, Frenda poked her head into the room, a questioning look on her face.

"Basically, what is the job?" she asked, her verbal tic appearing once more. Behind her, the two remaining ITEM members nodded silently.

Mugino pointed to the monitor. "This one's from the higher ups. Something about 'magicians' or some crazy shit.

The petite blond tilted her head, confused. "Whaa…? Basically, isn't magic impossible?"

Takitsubo shrugged, heading back to her room to prepare. Kinuhata, however, grinned widely. "Isn't that super awesome!? I mean, it's super magic!"

Mugino sighed, rubbing her forehead. One that's silent, one that's overly excited, and one that's overly curious. "That's correct. They are, apparently, coming in tomorrow. Be prepared, everyone."

"...And Takitsubo, get those stakes out of your bag! They are MAGICIAN'S, not VAMPIRES!"

..

 **I realize that, based on the stories I've read, Frenda's probably died in the novel. HOWEVER, this is based off of the anime and manga, so what the heck.**


	4. Tomorrow

**AN: I went over some of the comments, and I thank you for your support. I strongly believe that I am developing my writing as I go along, so please bear with me. Also, keep in mind that, this is my first story where I am actually** _ **planning**_ **the story, instead of writing whatever pops into my head.**

..

Saten Ruiko idly sat at the table in the park where she had met with her friend the day before, frowning in concentration. "Now, if I were being chased by Judgement, where would I go?"

Recalling her earlier thought, she opened her phone, locating Uiharu. "Ehh… Isn't that the school I went to after the Level-Upper incident? I still remember an alleyway shortcut!"

After a split second's hesitation, she sped off, heading for a Certain High School.

Less than a minute later, a certain spiky haired boy raced into the park from the same direction, before pulling a U-turn. "Dammit! I left my money in my school bag!"

Five minutes after _that_ , Yomikawa ran into the scene, stopping by the table. "Where is he now, Uiharu?"

"I… lost him. He disappeared into another alleyway two minutes ago, and I haven't seen him since. Where's Konori-senpai?"

The bluenette shrugged, sparing a look over her shoulder. "Who knows. Anyways, gotta go!"

..

Back in a Certain High School, Uiharu Kazari had set up a hasty, yet effective state-of-the-art command center, right on top of a certain unlucky high schooler's desk. Rapidly tapping away at the keyboard, the petite girl was completely focused on her task.

Which was admirable, considering the chaos enveloping the class she was in, ever since she had accidentally blurted out the fact that their classmate had indeed defeated Academy City's Number One.

It certainly didn't help that the only adult in the vicinity, Komoe-sensei, had instantly fainted upon hearing the information.

"Kami-yan's certainly gonna have a lot of stuff to explain when he comes back…" Tsuchimikado said, grinning.

No one noticed the self-proclaimed 'background character' slip through the door once more.

..

Meanwhile, our favorite unlucky protagonist was currently… _not_ in a dangerous situation, strangely enough.

At least, if you discount the numerous people chasing him with the potential to kill him.

Instead, he was lying on the ground, after having ran into someone at an intersection. Quickly, he scrambled to his feet and extended his hand to the girl. "Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going. Are you alright?" he asked, almost automatically due to prior experience.

Said girl had long, black hair, with a flower hairpin, and was wincing slightly from the less-than-soft impact. Soon, she managed to blink the spots from her eyes and traced the extended hand, up to Kamijous's face.

'Have I… seen this guy before?' she thought, unmoving.

The spiky-haired teen was thinking the exact same thing, racking his memory (or whatever's left of it) for this familiar-yet-unfamiliar face.

Eventually, both of them came to the same conclusion, at the same time. Pointing at each other, they simultaneously shouted, "You're that boy/girl from the Daihasei Festival!"

Saten took his hand and rose to her feet, then stuck out her own hand. "Can you give me my charm back?"

"Oh, right! I never _did_ return it, did I?" Kamijou scratched his cheek, laughing awkwardly. "Sorry about that. It's at my dorm, but I'm kinda busy right now. Tomorrow?"

The girl observed him through narrowed eyes, but he didn't seem to have any bad intentions. "Okay. Where do you wanna meet?"  
The spiky-haired boy seemed to be taken aback by the question, but then facepalmed upon coming to a realization. "Oh yeah, we have to meet for me to… Ok, then how about the park a few blocks down. You know, with the broken vending machine?"

The curious middle-schooler grinned, nodding. "Ok. I'll see you there at noon. See ya!"  
With that, she turned around and ran in the direction she was heading prior, and where Kamijou was turning towards. Scratching his head, the unlucky boy shrugged and continued on his way, towards another shortcut in the alleyways.

If only he knew how many interruptions they held for him, he would have preferred the streets.

..

"Misaka Misaka is here! Misaka Misaka declares, proudly slamming the door open." With that, the tiny brunette burst through the door, a certain Level 5 right behind her.

The occupants of the room the duo had entered turned around to them, wide-eyed. Comically, Last Order bounded throughout the classroom, popping up in the most random of places. "Where is the Saviour? Misaka Misaka asks, pouting as Misaka Misaka turns to look at Accelerator."

In response, the Number One sighs, then sweeps his gaze until he saw the Judgement band. "Oi, where's the fucking hero?"

Uiharu gulped nervously, before shaking her head. "Wh-who are you… and who are you referring to?"

The energetic girl bounced over to her companion, smiling widely. "He's Accelerator, Misaka Misaka exclaims, and the hero is the Saviour!"

Accelerator sighed, and bonked the girl lightly on the head, before turning to his audience. "Yomikawa told her to look for Kamijou or some shit. So, where the hell is he?"

..

"So, basically, we're heading out to prepare for the magicians!" Frenda called out, before disappearing out the door, Saiai not far behind.

A tick mark popped up on Mugino's forehead, but she didn't respond otherwise. Silently, Takitsubo came out of her room, and nodded to the leader of ITEM before opening the door and leaving as well.

"I'll give you guys a ten-minute head start. Then, I'm hunting you all down, with or without Takitsubo."

..

 **I was planning on finishing this during Spring Break, but what the heck. Enjoy?**


	5. Day's End

**AN: I was reading some more stories, and I realized that a lot of them had disclaimers… Not sure if it's necessary, but here goes:**

 **I do not own Toaru Majutsu No Index, or anything else in the Toaru Universe.**

… **Do I have to write that** _ **every**_ **time?**

..

Originally, he had planned to simply hide out in the school until the class left for PE, but…

Due to his misfortune, school was basically over by the time he arrived at his destination. Sighing, Touma rubbed his still-sore arm as he hid in the corner, out of sight from everyone he knew. "Well, at least I don't have to wait forever…"

Stifling a yawn, he grew a thoughtful look, as he mused, "I wonder why they were looking for me? Well, if Yomikawa-sensei is involved, it _must_ be evil..." With that in mind, he shivered slightly, before sneaking further into the building.

Thankfully for the boy, he managed to successfully reach his classroom- for once, without much trouble. Once he made sure the coast was clear, he dashed into the room, grabbed his bag, and ran out again.

Once again, no trouble. Which, at the very least, should've made him suspicious- there was no such thing as good luck for him.

..

As it was almost night time, a girl with a flower pin in her hair flopped unceremoniously onto her bed, aforementioned hair sprawling across the mattress.

Burrowing her face into the pillow, she reviewed her day. Though the first part was great- she had found her all-important lucky charm, and a prospective new friend!- she was still far from her original objective. As in, she had made no progress, whatsoever.

..

 _Flashback_

..

"Yes! Finally… I reached the school!" Saten cheered happily, pumping her fist in the air despite how hard she was panting. Quickly, she entered the building without problem, since everyone was still in class (Or, in Touma's case, lost in some alleyway somewhere).

Recalling her prior visit, she decided to ask the tiny, yet nice teacher from before- Komoe-sensei, right? Smiling brightly, she skipped through the halls until she reached her destination. "Hopefully, she knows where Uiharu is!"

The dark-haired girl slid the door open, expecting to see a normal class in progress, due to the (attempted) stern attitude of the teacher. Not… whatever this was.

Inside, a… well-endowed girl was beating up two boys, one with blue hair and the other a blond. Next to them, Komoe-sensei seemed to be panicking at something she had heard, with swirls in her eyes.

On the other side of the room, next to the windows, Uiharu was diligently tapping away at the keyboard… while a white-haired boy glared silently at the back of the petite girl's head, a brunette kindergartener clinging to his back.

Immediately, Saten drew the attention of everyone in the room, an awkward silence hanging over the group.

"Saten-san!" Uiharu called out cheerfully, before her smile turned into a light frown. "What are you doing here, aren't you supposed to be in school?"

"Oh, right…" she muttered, freezing in place. 'Crap! I have no idea what I'm gonna do know!'

"Err… School got canceled early?"

"Less than three hours in?!"

"...Yeah…"

..

 _Flashback End_

..

After a very long and un-Uiharu-like interrogation, her alleged best friend had sent her back to school. She didn't even budge, arguing that, in a city named after schools, education was _very_ important.

She had stayed juuuust long enough to see the amazingly short teacher (She was shorter than _UIHARU_ , by 20cm!) successfully send the white-haired boy away after receiving a call from her colleague, Yomikawa.

"Who was he, anyways…" she wondered aloud, knowing that he probably wasn't part of the class. And, that several students were staring at him with a gaze of fear, and/or awe.

Sighing, she decided to instead think about tomorrow.

Despite it being Saturday, her friends already had plans and were going to be busy, so she would probably spend the entire day alone.

'Maybe I can hang out with that boy? We're already planning on meeting up, and he doesn't seem like a bad person…' Saten thought blurrily, her thoughts clouding up as the adrenaline from before faded away, exhaustion from running all over the district taking its place.

In a few minutes, snores could be heard, muffled from the pillow she had planted her face on.

..

Elsewhere, a certain unlucky teen was having a very different process as he tried to fall asleep.

" _Toumaaaa…_ " the silver-haired nun growled, a dark aura emanating from her as she gnashed her teeth. "You forgot to buy food again…"

Slowly, the spiky-haired boy turned to look at his freeloader, as his eyes darted between her and his safe haven, spluttering protests and excuses all the while. As soon as she launched herself, Touma scrambled away from the couch, and into the bathroom, locking it immediately.

Hearing a loud _thunk_ on the door, he cautiously backed away from the door, making sure the lock still worked, before sighing and climbing into the bathtub.

'Dammit… Such misfortune, as usual…' were his last thoughts, before he delved into a dreamless sleep.

However, his next-door neighbour had other thoughts, snickering as he overheard Touma's ordeal just then. Then, he turned his sunglasses-covered eyes back onto the screen, and grinned maliciously.

" _ALL_ of them are coming? This is even better than I expected…" His musing was interrupted by his ringing phone. Before it even rang a second, he picked it up, eyes twinkling with interest. "Yes, who is this?"

"..."  
"Ah, really? You wanna know about _that_? Well, how much can you offer?"

"...?...!"

"If I had doubts about stuff like that, I wouldn't have chosen this job. Now, price?"

"..."

"Ok, fine. Meet me tomorrow outside the city, and we'll sort things out. I have a few conditions, though…"

..

 **Took a while… I started this a few days ago, dropped it, wiped it clean, restarted, then wrote all of this...**


	6. New Objectives

**AN: I'm bored, so I'm gonna write this now. Hopefully this'll be funny.**

..

"Index, I'm heading out," Kamijou called out, putting on his shoes. "The food is in the fridge, okay?"

His reply was a short 'okay', as the silver-haired sister stared at the TV. Later, Kazakiri was supposed to be able to materialize, so Index had decided to stay where she can find her.

Sighing, the unlucky boy left the house, grabbing his school bag as he left. In place of school supplies, having put some essentials inside of said bag.

"Oh, good morning, Maika. Are you here to see your brother again?"

This was said as he noticed a blue-haired girl in a maid outfit, sitting atop of a spinning cleaning robot, as per usual. The girl bowed her head, as she answered, "Yes, Kamijou-san. Where are _you_ going today?"

At this, Kamijou shuffled around in his bag a bit, before pulling out a small Japanese-style charm, hanging by a small thread. "I've got to return this to its owner… Hopefully without much trouble…"

"What? That's more of a fantasy than a hope, isn't it?" the girl replied, tilting her head.

This only caused the boy to slump even more, releasing an aura of depression. Wordlessly, he began to walk past the girl.

"Goodbye, Kamijou-san!"

..

"Now, no worries, Uiharu! He doesn't seem like a bad person, anyways!" Saten said cheerfully, pulling on socks as she held her phone between her shoulder and head. "Don't worry about me, just tell me when you find Level 0-san!"

"...?"

"Why I'm not trying to look for him myself?" Saten repeated the question, a thoughtful look on her face. "Well, it's not like we know where to look, and the dude's probably out today. It's the weekend, after all!"

"..."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine. Geez, you're like my mom! Anyways, see ya! Good luck on the search!"

Closing her device, she walked to the door, slipping on her shoes. After that, the black-haired girl beamed as she made for the meeting spot, her bag swinging ever so slightly as it hung from her shoulder.

..

On the other side of the conversation, Uiharu sighed as she closed her phone, turning her wheeled chair around to look at the two other occupants of the office at Judgement Branch 177.

"So, Yomikawa-senpai, do you know where we can find… Sorry, what's his name?"

The blue-haired woman in the room grinned, crossing her arms. "I don't know where he lives, but I'm willing to bet Komoe-sensei does. Doubt he's there, though… Oh, and his name is Kamijou Touma."

Blinking, Konori-senpai rubbed her chin in thought, before turning around to her subordinate. "Uiharu, can't you just track him with the cameras?"

Uiharu shook her head regretfully. "There's too many people in Academy City, and this is a weekend. Almost everyone will be out, so finding a plain-looking guy like him would be near impossible by camera…" she explained, looking downcast.

"Huh. I guess Shirai had the right idea, searching for him outside," Yomikawa said, thinking aloud. "Since she's already out there, we'll head to Komoe's house, okay?"

"Yes, Ma'am!"

..

As the time changed from 11:59 to 12:00, Kamijou looked up from his watch, standing next to a certain vending machine. On cue, Saten Ruiko appeared, lightly jogging in his direction.

"Sorry, am I late?" she asked, coming to a stop right in front of him. Surprisingly, she didn't even have a bead of sweat on her, completely used to running around the city (much like a certain protagonist).

Shaking his head, Touma smiled slightly. "No, you're actually just in time. Want something to drink?" he asked, holding out a bottle of green tea from the vending machine.

Accepting it gratefully, Saten popped off the cap and took a long gulp. "Thanks, I owe you one… what's your name again?"

Touma blinked, before realizing that neither of them knew the other's name. "Right, I'm Kamijou Touma. What's your name?"

"Pleased to meet you, Touma! My name's Saten Ruiko!" she replied enthusiastically, sticking out her hand. Letting out a slight chuckle at her energetic nature, Kamijou readily shook her hand.

Then, he turned around and pried open his bag, ruffling through the contents until he found the object he was looking for; carefully, he took out the lucky charm and handed it over to its owner, who accepted it gratefully.

"Thanks, Touma!" giggling at his overly-cautious handling of the charm, she turned over to her own bag and clipped it on. "Now, come on. We're not gonna just stay here all day, are we?"

The spiky-haired teen froze. "What?" he asked, confused as to what was going on. "What're you talking about?"

"Well, it took you _this_ long to return it, so a little something in return won't hurt, right?" the girl answered, smiling brightly. "And I've got no plans today, so accompany a bit, okay?"

Kamijou rubbed the back of his head, sighing. However, a single glance into her eyes showed that she wasn't going to back down. "...Fine. I've got no plans, anyways…"

Immediately, the long-haired girl beamed brightly, and started pulling on his arm. "Come on! No time to waste!"

Sighing again, Touma allowed himself to be dragged on the trip, unaware of what was going on elsewhere in the city.

..

A red-haired boy, about 14-15 years old, sat at a desk, fiddling with a pen as he stared at his homework. Suddenly, a knock on his door caused him to stand up, and open the door with a grin.

"Kazuo! We've found a hacker that can find the Hero!"

The speaker was a girl at around the same age, with long purple hair and a slim figure that was neither overly well-endowed, nor completely flat. The announcement caused Kazuo's eyes to light up in excitement as he waved the girl in.

"Really? Where is the hacker, and how can we get them to join us?"

The girl's lips curled upwards, also unable to contain her excitement. "She's currently outside, with some friends. I don't think she'll join, though; we saw a Judgement armband on her."

"Ah… Then… take her by force," the red-haired boy replied, hesitating. His eyebrows scrunched in distaste at the thought of kidnapping someone. "Send out Reido."

The girl nodded, her own smile fading. "Alright. She's en route now."

"Good. By the way… what's her name, Fuyuko?" he whispered, hearing footsteps coming near his room.

"Oh? Hitting on her already?" Fuyuko teased, crossing her arms.

"No! No, I just…" Kazuo waved his hands rapidly in front of him, until realization dawned on his face. Facepalming, he groaned, "Ugh, you're joking again, aren't you?"

"Oops, you caught me! Anyways, her name's Uiharu Kazari."

Sticking out her tongue, Fuyuko smirked, flopping onto the bed across the room. "You should really get a bigger place, Kazuo. Maybe I can sneak you into Tokiwadai?"

"Shut up, Fuyuko. God knows I can barely afford attending a Certain High School as it is," Kazuo retorted, grumbling.

..

 **Well, I felt like it was about time I got started on the actual baddies and stuff, so here ya go. Tune in next time to see Komoe-sensei talk to Judgement (with a certain background character in the- well, background), a certain Saint arrive in Academy City, and Touma's date!**


	7. I'm Back!

**AN: I've got nothing to say, except SORRY for the long wait. Seriously, I just got too lazy...**

 **In apology, I'll make this a bit longer than my usual 1,000-word, short-as-hell chapters.**

..

Fortunately enough for a certain unlucky teen, shopping for clothes and accessories were the last thing on Saten Ruiko's mind.

On the other hand, she wasn't short on plans, either. She had pulled him into a certain family restaurant, and sat herself down at a table next to the windows. He sat on the other side, smiling awkwardly. "Saten-san? Why did you bring me to a family restaurant?"  
The middle-schooler tilted her head, lowering the menu. "Why not? This place is nice, and the food is good. It's where I always meet up with my friends."

Nodding slowly, Touma looked around the shop, taking in the peaceful atmosphere. "Yeah, I guess you're right…"

The two sat in silence, Saten because she was mentally planning what to do for the day, and Touma because he was thinking about the day before. Suddenly, both of their phones rang, and the duo picked them up immediately.

"What's up, Uiharu?" Saten spoke cheerfully, hoping for news on the Level 0. "Didja find him?"

"Not quite, Saten-san," came the swift reply. Hesitating slightly, the petite girl continued. "We got a lead, but it's unlikely it'll be successful. At least, not today."

"Well, where is it?" she queried, wondering if there was anything she could find out for herself.

"The teacher from yesterday should know where he lives, so we're heading to her house."

"Got it! Thanks, Uiharu!" Saten chirped, smiling widely. If it's within District Seven, it should fit into her plans perfectly. Maybe she'll drop by, surprise Uiharu a bit. It was with this positive attitude she continued chatting with her best friend, beaming brightly.

On the other side of the table, however, Touma was having a… less than pleasant surprise. Courtesy of your one and only Tsuchimikado, of course.

"WHAT?! Why are they- When did you- Today?!" the high schooler spluttered, choking on the water he had just drank. "Why in the world did you tell them _I_ , of all people, can help them?"

"Well, you always seem ready to help anyone in need, Kami-yan. And don't you owe me a favor for yesterday?" If anyone was listening (aka Kamijou Touma), they could hear the clear humor in the reply.

"You didn't do anything!" he protested, knowing exactly what the spy was referring to. "Rather, you sold me out!"

"And that's gonna make you make people sleep in the street, nya? So unmanly, Kami-yan!"

A vein appeared on Touma's head as he sought a back door to this unlucky situation. After a moment, he caved in. "Fine. You win, dammit. But I'm getting you back for this!"

Sighing, Touma ended the call, and looked up to see his companion do the same. "Something just came up, but my roommate can probably handle it for now. I might have to go back early, though."

This caused Saten to frown, but she refrained from asking what it was- with great difficulty, of course. She knew that these things tended to be a bit… personal. "Alright. Then, next stop, the batting center!"

..

Surprisingly enough, Touma found that he actually enjoyed Saten's company, to say the least. Her love for baseball was interesting, not to mention her insatiable curiosity. The lack of misfortune, as impossible as it may seem, didn't hurt, either.

"So, where are we going now, Saten-san?" he asked, walking besides the person in question as he checked his watch. 'I'll probably have to leave after this. The plane arrives soon, and they'll have to adjust to the time here as well.'

On Saten's part, she had found out many things about her new friend. For one, he seemed to keep a relatively depressed aura around him, yet never seemed surprised at anything unlucky that happened to him. As a matter of fact, he actually seemed more cheerful than ever, exclaiming "Wow! This is the least amount of misfortune I've had in a while!" at one point.

She sweatdropped as she thought of all the trouble her fellow Level 0 must get into, plain-looking as he may be.

Shaking her head free from those thoughts, she spun around, grinning. She put a finger to her lips, smiling as she replied, "Nope! It's a secret!"

He sighed dramatically, making her smile widen. She had found that she liked teasing him, his reactions drastically different from Uiharu's. Promptly, she turned to face forwards again, this time in an over-dramatic imitation of a march.

"Come on- you have to leave soon, right?"

..

Uiharu watched warily as two of the adults she respected most got drunk.

Badly.

Of course, Komoe-sensei was there too, just as drunk as the other two- which looked quite ridiculous, given her young appearance.

After calling Saten, Konori-senpai, Yomikawa-sensei, and Uiharu herself had left for Komoe-sensei's place. After encountering no problems whatsoever, the group of four had set out for the Level 0's apartment.

As expected, he wasn't there. So, they returned to the pin-haired teacher's house and immediately got drunk.

And here they were, still drunk.

Just as Uiharu finished that thought, Komoe pulled out another bottle of beer, her face blending in nicely with her pink hair.

"God, how much booze do you have, Komoe-chan?" Yomikawa exclaimed, red face a-blazing. "You must drink more than I do!"

In reply, the small woman pouted, pouring generous cups of the drink for the two of them. "It's not my fault! You might be used to action, being in Anti-Skill and all, but Touma-kun is a trouble magnet of another level altogether! I'm gonna have a heart attack one day!"

Yomikawa shrugged, burping loudly. Waving an empty bottle in the air, she cheered her sentiments readily. "Hear, hear! He even ended up participating in Anti-Skill's business! If he wants to help out that badly, join us already!"

Muttering in agreement, the two continued gossiping until they dozed off, joining Konori on the floor.

Bewildered, Uiharu now realized she was the sole coherent person within the building, and it didn't seem like they were waking up anytime soon.

Quietly, she remained seated as she thought about what to do. 'There's no way I can leave them alone… Well, at least tomorrow's Sunday, so there's no school.'

Fidgeting slightly, she snapped to attention as the doorbell rang, hurrying to open the door.

"Ah… Who are you?"

..

"Dammit, where is that hacker?" Kazuo exclaimed, hands on his head as he paced the room. "Don't tell me this… Uiharu person is actually a Level 4 or something!"

Fuyuko shook her head in reply, leaning back in her chair to observe her friend with amusement. "No, she's a Level 1. Maybe it has something to do with _who_ we sent?"

This caused Kazuo to freeze in his tracks. Raising an eyebrow, he gestured for her to continue.

Tilting her head, Fuyuko spoke with a slight tone of confusion. "Didn't you know? Reido has a tendency to get… sidetracked…"

Slowly, the redhead's jaw slid open. "What! Then why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought you were in the same class as her? Isn't that why she's even here?!" the purplette protested, eyes open wide in confusion. "Didn't you have a plan or something?"

Kazuo shook his head rapidly. "No, I didn't she's a model student, for Christ's sake! I hardly knew anything about her, it was my friend who brought her into the fold!"

"What!? Dammit!"

..

Slowly, Touma was beginning to recognize the place he was being brought to, and wasn't averse to voicing his thoughts. "Huh, I kinda recognize this place. Why're we here, Saten-san?"

Saten giggled excitedly, but refused to reveal anything more than, "You'll see, Kamijou-san!"

Abruptly, she turned to her right and began to climb a certain red stairwell, Touma not far behind. As soon as they reached the top, the duo followed the path, which clung to the right side of the building, only to find two other people at the door, which was already open.

Just as Saten and Kamijou came into view, the short girl standing outside sneezed loudly. Rubbing her nose, the unknown person introduced herself cheerfully, two cherry-red ponytails dangling behind her.

"Ah, my name is Reido! Sorry for sneezing in your face, someone must've been talking about me..."

The latter of the two, an equally-small black-haired girl, saw her first. "Ah Saten-san! You came after all!"

The now-identified Reido turned around, and saw who she was talking to. A frown crossed her face, and she sighed a bit before speaking. "Sorry… This was supposed to be clean and neat, but Fuyuko-chan told me to capture the girl no matter what… So you'll have to sleep a bit!"

Without further ado, a ball of ice around the size of a baseball seemingly formed in her hand, which she threw at a surprised Saten.

However, all three of the girls were equally surprised when the alarmed girl was forcefully shoved to the side, a certain high schooler taking her place. Even more surprising, was the sudden disappearance of aforementioned projectile, which was accompanied by the sound of shattering glass.

Uiharu's eyes widened in recognition, Saten covered her mouth in an unreleased shout of panic, and Reido's eyes narrowed. The latter was the first to recover.

"You… how did you do that?"

Touma's eyes imitated hers, but refused to answer the question. Instead, he posed some of his own. "Why did you try to hurt Saten-san? Who told you kidnap… whoever that is?"

This vague reference was followed by a hand motioning to Uiharu, who blinked out of her surprise at the movement. "Wait, you're the person from yesterday! The guy that ran away!"

Silently, Touma racked his brain for any memories involving this young girl… with a flower headband… and a Judgement… armband…

"Dammit!" he shouted, making everyone jump. "Just my luck! Today was just fine, no major mishaps, and now a Judgement member is being kidnapped by an esper! What the hell!"

Unfortunately for our favorite main character, this was not the end.

"Wait, wait, wait…" Saten said, holding her hands out in front of her. Slowly, she pointed at the stranger. " _You're_ a kidnapper, that I get. But why do _you_ know Uiharu?" She said the second part pointing at her new friend.

Then, her brain started to piece the information together, and her eyes widened. " _You're_ the-"

At that moment, Reido lost all patience. "Oh, come on. Enough of this already, I need to end this quick!"

Then, the Level 3 activated her ability again, this time as she grabbed her objective, hoping to weaken her, maybe freeze her.

Instead, nothing happened.

"What?!" her eyes nearly popped out of her head, and she stared at her hand. "That's the second time- is my ability failing now?"

Out of the corner of her eye, a flicker of movement caught her attention, and she jumped back onto the railing as a right arm occupied where her head was just then.

"You're not hurting anyone," Touma growled, bracing himself for another attack. "Not if I can help it!"

Deciding that, if her ability wasn't working, taking on three people barehanded, with unknown abilities, wasn't a good idea.

"I'll be back!" she shouted, jumping off the railing and disappearing into a bush. "Ow, that hurt!"

Sweat-dropping at the alleged kidnapper's childish antics, the trio sighed in relief, exchanging glances.

Then, they realized their situation. Touma was the first to react, his prior experiences allowing him to react quickly.

Without hesitation, he jumped off the railing as well, shouting a quick "Sorry!" to Saten.

Then Saten decided to jump off in chase of him, determined to confront him on the matter of the Level 0.

Finally, Uiharu unfroze, and hesitated as she stared after the disappearing form of Kamijou, Saten a few feet behind him. 'If she gets in danger again…' was her mindset as she ran down the stairwell and after the two.

"Dammit! Now I'm gonna be late to pick up Kanzaki and the others! She's totally gonna kill me!"

..

 **Reido Natsume, Level 3.**

 **Current School: A Certain High School.**

 **Ability: Freeze. Allows her to automatically freeze anything she touches with her hands, within reason.**

 **Note: Was countered by Uiharu's Thermos Hand, which maintains the temperature of whatever she touches, and by Touma's Imagine Breaker (Duh).**


	8. Airport

**AN: Here's some replies to my reviews:**

 **botman: I do realize Uiharu is Level 1, but I just felt like they should make a mistake once or twice. Or, this may be a cover-up excuse for my incompetence and terrible memory. Who knows.**

 **Fencer29: For the first part, I don't know. I'm assuming there isn't any, but I forgot the name of the restaurant. Which is, as you say, Joseph's. Second… XD I just wanted 'em outta da way! Hehe. Thirdly, see botman.**

 **Bluejack222: Oops.**

 **Guest: Yeah… Sorry, but since I have no knowledge of this 'Suzushina Yuriko', the concept of a genderbended Accelerator is… disturbing for me, to say the least. In blunter terms, no.**

 **Anyways, enjoy!**

..

 _Bzzzt. Bzzzt._

Reaching over to a bedside table, a certain Electromaster picked up her phone, eyeing it blearily.

"Uiharu…? Why're you calling me this late?" she mumbled, rubbing the grogginess from her eyes.

The reply was almost immediate, with a unmistakable tone of urgency. "Misaka-san! Thank goodness you picked up, I think Saten-san may be in trouble; can you meet us at the airport?"

Instantly, gone was the Level 5's drowsiness, and she nodded solemnly, even though Uiharu couldn't see her. "Got it. I'll be there ASAP."

"Thank you, Misaka-san. I'll see you there."

As soon as the call ended, Misaka closed her phone, and sprang out of her bed.

"Should I wake Kuroko…? Nah, she was running around all day, for some reason." she murmured, thinking aloud. With that in mind, Misaka opened the door and peeked into the hallway. "Time to go, I suppose."

..

A certain misfortunate high schooler sprinted through the darkened streets, panting lightly. Soon enough, he was in front of the airport, brightly lit just like all the other buildings in Academy City, despite the late hours.

Upon entering, he was greeted by the pleasant sensation of AC, to which he readily accepted.

However, that was not the only thing that greeted him.

"Who the hell are you?"

Immediately, Touma froze, before turning to face the source of the noise, which happened to be a group of four girls. The brunette was the one who spoke, if her crossed arms were any indication. Behind her, there was another, smaller brunette, as well as a blonde girl of the same height, and a black-haired girl his age.

"Me? I'm just an unlucky high schooler, why?" he responded, tilting his head. Then, pointing to the two smaller-looking children, "And why are those two out this late? The city's pretty dangerous, you know…"

"Hey! I'm not _that_ small!" the blond protested, pouting. The younger brunette unconsciously nodded in agreement. Puffing out her chest, she continued, "I'll have you know, we're on official bu- mph!"

The last part was due to the first brunette, who clamped her hand over the young girl's mouth harshly. "Shut up, Frenda! And you, Mr. Nice Guy, leave, now!"

Somewhat startled at the woman's rude behaviour, Touma smiled weakly. "Ah, sorry, but I have to pick up some friends…"

The woman's eye twitched, but before she could say anything, the younger brunette whispered in her ear. "Mugino, wouldn't it be better to maintain a low cover for now? Let's leave him alone, he doesn't look dangerous."

Mugino's eye twitched again, but she said nothing, opting to sit down and look in the other direction. Touma didn't know what happened, but nodded thanks to the girl.

A few minutes later, a certain black-haired girl came running in through the door, panting heavily with her hands on her knees.

"Saten-san?!" Frenda and Touma called out simultaneously, eyes widening in surprise.

Immediately, Saten's head shot up, grinning broadly as she pointed at Touma. "Haha, I got you, Touma-san!"

However, her smile slowly faded as she looked over at the other person who had called her name. "Frenda-chan? What are you doing here?" she asked, blinking slowly.

"I could say the same to you!" the foreign girl exclaimed, looking just as confused as everyone else.

Shaking the confusion out of her head, Saten focused on her initial goal. "I was chasing Touma…" she said, pointing at the black-haired high schooler.

Everyone then turned to look at said boy.

"..."

"..."

"So, his name's Touma, eh?" Frenda repeated, her eyes glinting deviously. "Touma, I'll teach you not to call me small…"

Thus, Touma did one thing he was, unfortunately, overly familiar with; he ran. And since Saten was in the entrance, he only had one way to go; deeper into the airport.

"Hey, come back here!" Saten and Frenda called out, rushing off in pursuit, leaving three ITEM members behind.

One of whose eyes was twitching dangerously. "Frenda… GET BACK HERE!"

"...Should we super go after Mugino?" Saiai muttered, popping a lollipop in her mouth.

"Mm… Maybe…"

..

"District… 23… is so… far… away…" wheezed an exhausted Uiharu, bent double with her hands on her knees. "How does... Saten-san run that far?"

Once her breathing regulated, she sighed, and prepared to start jogging again. However, she failed to notice a dark shadow appear behind her, silently knocking her out with a hit to the head.

Hooking her arms under the Judgement member's armpits to keep Uiharu from collapsing, a familiar shade of red appeared.

"Sorry, but a job is a job." Reido muttered, appearing genuinely remorseful. Without saying anything more, she started dragging the petite girl off.

"Good thing we have a safe house nearby…" she grunted, realizing that an unconscious body was difficult to carry regardless of the size. Slowly, Reido dragged her off, the shadows of the streets enveloping them once again.

..

A certain Saint's eye twitched impatiently as she crossed her arms. Quashing the temptation to destroy the abominable machine in front of her, she tapped her feet as she waited for her luggage to come around.

"Oh, there it is!" Itsuwa called out, pointing towards a large collection of suitcases coming around on the conveyor belt.

"Quickly, get it off the conveyor belt!" she exclaimed, heading towards the machine. "Before it passes… for a fourth time…"

A tick mark cropped up on Kanzaki's forehead as she was reminded of her prior failure. No, it wasn't her fault, she just hardly ever rode airplanes (legally), after all...

..

 **Yeah.. I started on this a while ago, but kept on putting it off… Hope you enjoyed!**


	9. Caught

**AN: Sorry for the long wait! Lotsa shit hit the fan, so I just decided to wait until Summer started… and then some, apparently. XD**

 **Anyways, enjoy!**

..

Kamijou Touma was running through a relatively emptied airport, not because he was afraid, or that there was some big, bad monster chasing him.

Well, there was one, but it wasn't like he new of Mugino's identity.

No, he was running because there was currently a group of magicians here, in a city of science, and the relationship between the two Sides were tense enough as it it. If someone happened to piss off Kanzaki Kaori, by perhaps hitting on her, or something of the like…

Well, the results wouldn't be pretty.

"Come back here!" a small blond-haired girl yelled angrily, chasing him. "'I'm gonna kill you!"

Groaning, he only sped up. "Not a chance! You're just giving me another reason not to stop!"

Quickly, he turned a corner, the blond copying him in a few seconds.

Still, a few seconds was enough for him disappear from view, as Frenda found out, much to her chagrin. "Dammit!"

Slowly, a shadow fell over her, giving her the chills as she turned around cautiously. "M-Mugino…"

"Come with me. We're having a small… chat." was all the brunette said in response, turning around and dragging the smaller girl off.

"E-essentially, let's be reasonable here, yeah?" she stuttered, paling.

She got no response.

..

Sighing, Touma rose from where he was hiding, behind a bench, rubbing the back of his head. "At least that's over… I wonder where Saten-san went?"

As usual, fate decided to mess with him, in the form of said girl coming into view.

"Touma!"

"Saten-san?!"

Panting, the black-haired girl glared lightly at the cause of her exhaustion. "Did you have to run so far? I've been after you since District Seven, you know!"

"Sorry…" Touma replied, scratching the back of his head, but stopped, pointing at her accusingly instead. "Wait, isn't it your fault for chasing me in the first place? This unlucky Kamijou can only assume something is wrong if someone chases him!"

"I only chased you because you were running!" Saten protested, crossing her arms and pouting.

'C-cute…'

Shaking his head to discard those thoughts, Touma sighed again. "Fine, but can you wait for a while? I'm picking someone up, and I'm late enough as it is."

Quickly, he pulled out his phone and began calling someone.

Nodding, Saten's demeanor changed completely, flowers appearing around her as she smiled happily. "Of course, but you will answer anything I ask, right?"

His finger phone froze above the 'Call' button, and a nervous smile appeared on his face. "W-well, Saten-san…"

" _Right?_ "

'She's still smiling… but why does it seem so scary all of a sudden?!'

Gulping, the highschooler nodded. "R-right! I'll answer all your questions!"

"Great!"

Instantly, Saten's happy aura reappeared, making Touma sweatdrop. 'I know I already know this, but girls are scary!'

Touma stared cautiously at the young girl, before starting the call. A few buzzes later, a response came through.

"Hello? Kami-yan?"

"Tsuchimikado! Say, do you know where they are? I don't have their numbers, sorry."

"Oh, Kaori and the others? They're heading to your apartment, saying you were taking too long."

At this, Kamijou paled considerably.

"What?! What if someone pisses one of them off? With this unlucky Kamijou's misfortune, saying it could start a fight is far from out of the question!"

"Oh, I wouldn't worry. An Amakusa's with em. Itsuwa, I think? Anyways, I'm in the middle of something, so see ya!"

Abruptly, a click signified the end of the call, but Touma didn't seem to disturbed by it, having calmed down slightly at realizing Itsuwa was there as well.

"But why would Itsuwa be here? Not that I'm against it; her street smarts would probably be very useful in keeping the others in check…" he muttered, thinking aloud.

Clearing her throat, Saten snapped him out of his thoughts, and watched as he turned around to look at her.

"Is your business over?" she asked, mildly confused about the contents of said call. "C'mon, I have a ton of questions!"

Sighing, Touma nodded, accepting his fate.

"Such misfortune…"

..

Closing his phone, Tsuchimikado looked back up, at two cloaked figures, smiling apologetically.

"Sorry, that was an associate of mine. So, the deal was-"

"You provide us with the information we need, as well as undetected passage into Academy City, and we pay you the agreed amount." the man in front interrupted, displeasure showing in his voice.

Nodding, Tsuchimikado's smile widened. "Of course, of course. However, the price may change depending on the contents of the information, no?"

"What's your point?"

Tsuchimikado narrowed his eyes, though that was hidden by the sunglasses he wore despite it being near midnight. "My point is, that we better get down to business. I have quite a schedule, you know."

"...Agreed."

..

Misaka Mikoto, also known as the Railgun, was sprinting through the streets towards District 23.

The reason behind her urgency of movement was quite clear, to her.

A friend could be in danger, and she could help. That was all she needed to take action.

Spotting movement, Misaka narrowed her eyes, slowing to a walk. A red-haired girl was dragging a familiar-looking girl with slight difficulty, a brick building seeming to be her destination.

The darkness of the night caused the identity of the second girl to elude Misaka, as she walked slowly towards the two.

The opened door allowed light from inside the building to shine through, giving Misaka a glimpse of a flower headband, before Uiharu was dragged inside.

"Uiharu?!"

Racing to the door, Misaka found herself to be too late, as it closed, a click showing it was locked.

"Dammit!" Misaka yelled, taking a few steps back and reaching into her pocket.

Flipping the coin, she shot off her signature move, Railgun, at minimum capacity. Even so, it tore through the probably reinforced door like butter, as well as the walls beyond it.

Not wasting a second, Misaka burst into the room, and saw the girl from before with a shocked look on her face, Uiharu, who was still unconscious, and two others, just as surprised as the first.

"UIHARU!"

Instantly, she sent three lightning bolts simultaneously, each hitting their respective targets.

She didn't see it happen, though, as she knelt down by her friend's side and shook her gently.

"Uiharu, wake up! Are you alright?"

Groaning softly, the petite girl stirred in her sleep, but it took a few more shakes from Misaka to coax the girl awake.

Rubbing her eyes and sitting up, Uiharu looked at her friend blearily. "Misaka-san…? What happened?"

Breathing out in relief, Misaka removed her hands from Uiharu's shoulders and pointed to the red-haired girl lying on the floor.

"I saw her dragging you here, which looked suspicious, so I broke in and knocked them out. Are you alright?"

Nodding slowly, Uiharu's wide eyes followed Misaka's finger, and gasped in recognition. "That was the girl from before… She said she was told to capture me!"

The brunette's eyes narrowed, walking over to the three unconscious teens. "The other two must be her accomplices, then. Do you know why they wanted to kidnap you?"

Shaking her head, the smaller girl rose to her feet, albeit shakily, and walked up next to her friend. "No, I don't. Should we ask them when they wake up?"

Silently, Misaka nodded, frowning. A few moments later, she turned back to Uiharu.

"So… Why did you call me, saying Saten was in trouble?"

Uiharu put on a thoughtful expression, before red spread across her face, and she casted her gaze downwards. "U-umm… She was attacked earlier by that girl, so I figured that she might be in danger…"

"Even though they said their target was you?"

Misaka couldn't but leak a bit of amusement at the smaller girl's altruism. It almost reminded her of the idiot. _Almost_.

..

"Achoo!"

Saten Ruiko looked back at her companion with creased eyebrows, concerned. They had been talking as they walked through the darkened streets, for the past 15 minutes or so.

"Are you alright?" she asked. It was pretty chilly out, after all.

Touma grinned, shaking his head. "I'm fine, though your concern for this unlucky Kamijou is appreciated."

The last part took Saten by surprise, as she turned her head to hide her blush. Recovering quickly, she turned back to her companion with a grin. "Anyways, enough small talk! Tell me, are the rumors true?"

Touma's smile faltered, but he shrugged, as he wasn't exactly hiding for any real reason other than that it'd be troublesome. "Fine, you win. But can you tell me what you're talking about? I don't really pay attention to rumors…"

"Hmm…" the black-haired girl put a hand to her chin in thought. "Well, how about the most famous one? Did you really beat the Number One in a fight?"

Touma laughed, wondering if it was really that famous. "How did word get out about that? And besides, I only beat him because I had some help, and he underestimated me."

Immediately, Saten's eyes lit up, and started jumping up and down in excitement. "Really?! Who helped you? How did you beat him? Why'd you even fight him?!"

At the last question, she all but shoved her face in Touma's, eyes still glittering.

"Y-you're too close…" Touma said, laughing awkwardly. Once she calmed down somewhat, the two turned in opposite directions, red on both their cheeks.

"A-anyways…" Touma started, wanting a distraction. "The Railgun helped me out, and I fought Accelerator because… Well, because I was helping _her_ out."

Thankful of the new topic, Saten smiled widely, her eyes not quite meeting Touma's. "Is that so? Well, how about that other rumor? You know, the one with the vampire…"

The two continued talking, slowly walking towards District Seven, both genuinely smiling.

..

 **Yay… So, Misaka will meet Kamijou's follower's- I forgot what was their name… Did I give them one yet? Anyways, the residents of the Necessarius meet up with Index, Tsuchimikado seems to be undertaking shady business (again), and Touma and Saten grow closer. Well, I think I got over my Writer's Block quite nicely, don't you? Oh yeah, and it doesn't seem like ITEM will find their prey anytime soon...**


	10. Truths, Bonds

**AN: Hmm… Remember in Chapter 4, when I said I had a plan for this story? Yeah, that… that plan ended three chapters ago. Hehe… Oh, and I edited some errors, like Uiharu occasionally being referenced as Level 0, some bad grammar, etc. Hope you enjoy.**

..

"Hahaha!" Saten Ruiko doubled over in laughter, much to the chagrin of her companion, a fellow Level 0. Wiping a few tears from her face, she tried, and failed, to stop her laughter.

"C'mon…" Touma groaned, a small smile appearing on his face as well. "It's not _that_ funny…"

"It is! It totally, definitely is!"

Touma slumped slightly, the smile still there. Sighing, he shook his head and started walking again. "Ugh… Anyways, we're almost back, so I really have some things I want to say…"

This piqued Saten's interest, raising her eyebrow. "Hm? What is it?"

"...Thank you."

She blinked. Whatever she had in mind, this was most certainly not it. "What for? _I_ was the one chasing you halfway across the city, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember." Touma replied, sweatdropping. "But still, I had a lot of stuff bottled up, whether I admit it or not. You were willing to listen to me, and I thank you for that. I mean it, Saten-san."

Saten blinked a few more times, processing the information slowly. As soon as it struck home, she turned away blushing, hiding by faking a cough.

"W-well, I was happy to do it. I was curious, after all!"

Mildly curious as to why she was hiding her face, Touma shrugged. "And the day was pretty fun, too. I haven't had a free day like that in ages."

The two walked for a while longer, one hiding her flaming face.

Once she managed to tone it down, Saten sprinted a bit ahead, before twirling around with both hands behind her. Smiling brightly, she said, "Don't worry about it! If you ever feel like talking to someone, call me, okay?"

Before he could respond, she spun so she was facing forwards once more, and skipped off, giggling slightly.

"But I don't have your phone number…" Touma muttered, opening his phone. Upon viewing it, he was surprised, as he now had three contacts.

 _Home_

 _Tsuchimikado_

 _Ruiko_

"When did she…"

..

"So basically, you're trying to find your Hero?" Misaka summed up, the statement sounding… eerily familiar.

The redhead- Reido, as Uiharu identified her-, nodded, her companions still unconscious. The three's hands were bound.

"With him, we can improve how we protect the city!" the girl blurted out, her face slightly red.

Misaka raised an eyebrow, her gaze resting on Reido as she waited for an explanation. The answer, however, came from the petite girl who had insisted on remaining by Misaka's side.

"They're a group of students that roam the streets protecting the lower levels from espers. The group consists of espers of all levels, including the Number 7. They don't have an official name or agenda as of yet… or until just now."

Both pairs of eyes turned to stare at her, making her fidget slightly. All she could do was meekly indicate towards her computer, a lightweight model that she always kept with her.

Misaka sighed, turning back to face the three. "By now, you'd think I'd be used to how amazing you are, Uiharu…" she said, smiling slightly. This brought on another stuttering episode from said girl, smoke rising from her bright red head.

"But still, why did the Number 7 join you guys…?"

Reido turned away, frowning. "Don't ask us. All I know is that he said protecting students 'took guts', and joined us."

"...I can believe that, actually…"

"..."

Awkward silence reigned the room, as the two refused to meet each other's eyes. The idea that someone with such an absurd personality as Sogiita Gunha was a Level 5, albeit the weakest one, was… well, kind of absurd.

"...?" Uiharu tilted her head, confused. "Is the Number 7 really that strange?"

Clearing her throat before someone answered that potentially rude question, Misaka gained the attention of her captive. "Does the… erm, Hero… Does the Hero often say 'Such Misfortune'?" she asked, already dreading the answer. Who else would save so many people, without revealing his identity to be praised and/or rewarded?

"Yeah… He's also the Level 0 in the rumor, the one that defeated Number 1 and 3." Reido replied, beaming brightly.

"That idiot didn't beat me, it was a draw. A draw!" Misaka muttered, sighing deeply.

Nodding at Uiharu, the two began preparing to move out. "We'll call Judgement later, so-"

"Amazing PUNCH!"

With almost no warning, the wall exploded.

"Sogiita-san!" Reido called out, smiling broadly. "How'd you find us?"

Said boy stood proudly in the hole, his jacket/cape fluttering behind him despite the lack of breeze. "With GUTS!"

"..."

"..."

"Wow, are you really the Number 7?"

Uiharu held her computer to her chest, eyes glittering. "Look, Misaka-san! Another Level 5!"

Sweatdropping, Misaka stepped up, frowning. "Why are you here, 7? For the record, your friends kidnapped my friend first."

Sogiita frowned as well, putting a hand to chin. "That's not very gutsy at all… But they were trying to find Mr. 0! He's super gutsy, even gutsier than me!"

Misaka's eye twitched, at that.

"That idiot?"

"Yup!"

"The one that runs away from me every time I see him?"

"Probably?"

Misaka sighed again. 'Kamijou must be rubbing off on me…'

"I already thought so, but… You have got to be kidding me…"

..

"Basically, when are these magicians arriving?" Frenda whined, gaining the attention of her group.

Kinuhata nodded in agreement. "Yeah, they're super late…"

Mugino sighed, getting up. "Whatever. If they're a no-show, then we can just claim we did away with them and get the payment."

A slight buzzing in her pocket, however, caused the brunette to sigh, pulling out her phone. As her eyes scanned the new message, her eyes narrowed, which did not go unnoticed by the others.

"Change of plans. There's some intruders, and the higher ups want us to clean up after their messes. Again." Mugino declared, muttering the last part.

..

 **So, yeah. I didn't expect to finish with this quite so soon, but what can I say? The to-do list just got wiped, due to a falling-out I had with… someone. Anywho, I WILL SAY THIS, FOR THE RECORD; I barely know anything about Sogiita Gunha, as he barely appeared in the anime. Therefore, I did some research, but that doesn't give the same impression, y'know? Apologies for possible OOC and inaccuracies.**


	11. A Selfless Idiot(?)

**AN: Enjoy!**

..

Kamijou Touma stretched his arms, yawning, as he walked on the sidewalk. Yesterday had been hectic, but he had thankfully survived.

With Kanzaki and the others crashing in his apartment, and opposing his sleeping in the bathtub (Well, most of them did…), he had no choice but to... crash in Tsuchimikado's.

Thankfully, Maika wasn't visiting, otherwise the Siscon Sergeant would've undoubtedly rejected him, in no small part due to the so-called Kami-yan Disease.

In any case, Kamijou was walking outside, soaking in the warmth of the morning sun as he wandered. He had no plans today, except to avoid as much misfortune as possible, like usual.

..

Kanzaki Kaori groaned, rolling over in her sleep. There was something she needed to get done… but what was it?

Soon, the smell of fried bacon reached her, and rubbed her eyes blearily. Why was she sleeping on the floor, again?

Ah, right…

They had come all the way to Academy City to warn Kamijou Touma!

Shooting up, she threw off her blanket, and marched to the kitchen. "Kamij- Itsuwa? What are you doing?"

The dark-haired girl spun around, startled.

"P-Priestess-sama! I was just cooking breakfast, would you like some?" she asked, bowing.  
Kanzaki looked back into the living room. Sure enough, Index was already inhaling food, probably enough to feed an elephant.

Returning her focus to the shy girl, she shook her head. "No, we need to inform Kamijou Touma of-"

"Growl."

Blushing slightly, Kanzaki ignored her growling stomach. "We need to tell him about the magic cabal!"

"Groooooowl."

"...But, perhaps we could have a little to eat first…"

..

The two figures that talked to Tsuchimikado the prior day were inside a small room inside one of Academy City's numerous abandoned buildings, kneeling. In front of them was a circular image of a figure cloaked in red, the edges flickering as if the image was unstable.

"Objective secured, sir." the first one said.

"Good work, August. Begin the transfer, we haven't much time before the Number 1 finds out. Surely, the heretic Aleister is already aware of our involvement…"  
"Yes, sir!" The first one replied, standing back up. The second did the same, and the image flickered out.

"Callum, prepare the circle. I'll get the objective."

Callum nodded, leaving the room silently. As he did, August turned to the corner of the room, where the contents of a bag struggled against its restraints.

"She's awake, I see." Quickly, he approached the bag, his right hand glowing with magic. Resting it on the fabric, he spoke softly, "Ὕπνος."

Immediately, the struggling stopped, and he peeked inside. Nodding in satisfaction, August swung it over his shoulder, he walked out the room.

..

Cautiously, Touma approached the ticking time bomb that was his apartment. He hadn't much contact with those in the Necessarius Dorm, but, from what he could tell, they didn't get along well.

Knowing his luck…

"H-hello?" he called out, opening the door by a crack. "You guys alright in there?"

"Kamijou Touma!" was the immediate reply. "Where have you been all morning? Come in, we need to talk."

Quickly, the unlucky high school entered, closing the door behind him. Turning around, he saw something that vaguely resembled a restaurant. Gathered around his table were Agnese Sanctis, Orsola Aquinas, and Sherry Cromwell, looking warily at Index, who was busy inhaling food. Based on the pile of bowls next to the silver-haired nun, this had been going on for a while.

"Where did all that food come from?" Touma wailed, already fearing for his wallet. "This misfortunate high schooler's already running low on funds as it is!"

"U-umm…"

Turning around, Touma found that the one who spoke was Itsuwa, still wearing an apron. Behind her, Kanzaki Kaori was washing some plates.

The black-haired girl fidgeted slightly under his gaze, and whispered, "P-please don't worry! These were food that I brought, so please leave the food to me, as payment for our staying here!"

Punctuating her offer, she bowed her head. Seeing this, Touma rubbed the back of his head, sighing.

"It's fine..." he replied, rubbing her head. "And if you'll cook for everyone else during your stay, it'll be a big help, so thanks."

Obviously, Itsuwa grew extremely flustered, cheeks lighting up as she back away slowly, her gaze still trained on the floor. Once she backed up to a distance she deemed sufficient, Itsuwa spun around and fled out the door.

At this, Touma could only tilt his head in confusion. "Did I… do something wrong?"

Face, meet hand.

"What?"

Sighing, Kanzaki gestured to a seat next to her, most likely something that was made and/or transported magically, and exchanged looks with the others.

"We need to talk." she said, raising a 'No, really?' look from Kamijou, before looking at Orsola. "Orsola, can you take care of Index for a while?"

And so, the well-endowed blond smiled, draggin the silver-haired nun outside despite her protests.

Kanzaki muttered a brief apology, then turned to the wielder of the Imagine Breaker with a serious expression. "I'll be direct. We're here because a group of magicians infiltrated Academy City. We want you to take care of it."

"Even though I may have expected it…" Touma crossed his arms, eye twitching. "Why me?"

"Pfft." The two turned to Agnese, who hid smirk with one hand.

"Why do you protest? Everyone already knows you're going to try and 'crush their illusion'." she said, her mouth twitching as she quoted him.

"Agreed." was Sherry's comment, before Touma can retort. "It'll just be easier for everyone if you have a bit more information beforehand."

"I-I'm not _that_ bad, am I?" Touma protested, smiling weakly. All he had in reply, however, were blank stares. Sighing, his head slumped forwards. "Fine, I'll do it…"

..

"So, what did you call me out here for?" a certain Electromaster asked, her arms crossed as she glared at Sogiita Gunha, along with the three from the prior night. They were gathered in a small cafe, and everyone had tense expressions, barring Sogiita.

Why? Because… he's Sogiita.

"Eh… The other one didn't come?" Sogiita exclaimed, turning his head around. "That's a pity… We could've talked some more!"

Misaka's eye twitched, electricity crackling through her brown hair. "You really think I'd expose any of my friends to you after you people _attacked_ us yesterday?"

Sogiita scratched his cheek, grinning sheepishly. "I swear we weren't going to hurt anyone! Just find the gutsy Level 0, that's all!"

Misaka's eye twitched once more, a frown crossing her face before she narrowed her eyes. "What do you even want that Idiot for, anyways? He's just a selfless idiot!"

"And think of all the people that selflessness has saved?" Sogiita countered, his eyes burning with fire. "Imagine how much more effective we can be by having him by our side!"

"...Tch." Misaka averted her gaze, grimacing. "He's been through enough as it is. He can't even beat down some punks on the street, so why does he have to bear all this burden?"

"Sometimes… the strongest of us all are those who know pain, and how to overcome it…" the Gemstone replied, the thoughtful tone in his voice surprising everyone. "...with GUTS!"

Immediately, the three sitting next to him facepalmed, and Misaka sighed, a smile playing on her lips.

"Kamijou Touma. I'm not telling you any more, so figure it out yourself." Misaka finally said, after a long pause. Draining her cup, she stood up and walked away, the tingle off the bell ringing as she exited the cafe.

..

 **Ehhh. This took longer than I thought, I kept on getting sidetracked and there was that surprise vacation trip. Oh well. Oh, and if anyone is OOC plz tell me.**


	12. School Day

**AN: SCHOOL IS STARTING! And even more, I'm going to high school! I should really start getting school supplies… In any case, Enjoy!**

..

A loud banging at the door was not a very fun way to wake up. Today, though, the world seemed to care very little about that.

"Who is it?!" Kanzaki Kaori snapped, throwing the door open.

However, her rude tone didn't seem to faze the energetic-looking teen at the door, as he beamed brightly. "Excuse me, is this Kamijou Touma's residence?"

The priestess narrowed her eyes, analyzing this person. Wearing a standard student's uniform, as well as the jacket as a makeshift cape, she deduced that he was, most likely an esper.

"Perhaps. Why are you looking for him?" Her eyes remained trained on his every movement as she spoke, silently reaching behind her and grasping her sword.

The two entered a staring contest, neither side willing to back down. Kanzaki's eyes had a hard edge to them, as she contemplated the chances of him being hostile, whereas he merely grinned cheekily.

They were interrupted, however, as a certain unfortunate highschooler opened the door to their side with a yawn.

"I feel like I'm forgetting something…" Touma mumbled, a hand covering his mouth as he yawned again. "Oh yeah, today's a school day…"

His eyes shot open in realization. "TODAY'S A SCHOOL DAY!"

Quickly, he turned to face them, taking in the stranger, before shrugging. "Kanzaki, sorry to interrupt and all, but I really need to get my stuff. Mind moving from the doorway?"

Sighing, Kanzaki nodded, moving to allow him to enter, while still keeping track of the boy. Once she made sure Touma couldn't hear them, at least for the time being, she spoke. "Well, now that you know my name, it's only fair if you tell me yours."

"That's true!" he exclaimed gleefully, making Kanzaki's eye twitch. "My name is Sogiita Gunha!"

The two stared at each other for a while longer, but the magician sighed. "I don't have time for this. Tell me what you want and leave."

"..." Sogiita scrunched up his face in thought, before shrugging. "I've found what I was after, so I'll leave now! With guts!"

Smiling broadly, he walked off, leaving a mildly confused Kanzaki. 'What did he mean, he found what he was after…?'

"Oh, that guy left." Touma thought aloud, before shrugging and waving goodbye to Kanzaki. "See you later."

"Yeah…" she murmured, still distracted by Sogiita's strange behaviour. "See you later…"

..

Saten was bored. Like, really bored.

Thus, rather than paying attention to her class, she chose to look out the window, a slight grin on her face.

'I wonder if Uiharu and the other's will like Touma-san?' she thought, spinning her pencil between her fingers as she nodded absently. 'But Misaka-san should already know him, haha…'

Sighing, she laid her arms out and rested her head on them. 'But he tensed up when I asked him about some things… Are they supposed to be hidden or something?'

She sighed again, the edges of her lips curling up slightly as she recalled Touma's grateful face, as he thanked her for chasing him halfway across the city just to talk to him. Baka.

Her cheeks slightly reddened- not enough for anyone to notice, though, and she only faintly recognized the sound of the bell going off, signaling the end of the day.

"...ten-san. Saten-san!"

Looking up, the energetic girl grinned sheepishly at her friend. "Sorry, what was that, Uiharu?"

"Mou…" Uiharu said, pouting. "As I was saying, do you want to meet up with Misaka-san and Kuroko-san?"

Smiling brightly, she nodded. "Sure! I have some things I wanna show you guys, too!"

..

"Misaka Misaka's head aches, complains Misaka Misaka, as she wonders where she is."

The small clone rubbed her head, as she sat up. Looking down, she removed her legs from a black sack, tilting her head as she did so.

Standing up, she looked around the room and took in her surroundings, which included walls… walls… and a door. Quickly, she made her way to said door, and jiggled the handle.

"Why is the door locked? wails Misaka Misaka, pouting." Last Order said, her verbal tic present as always. "Misaka Misaka can't access the Network, either! Misaka Misaka reports, grimacing!"

"But Misaka Misaka won't give up! Surely Accelerator will find Misaka Misaka!"

..

Meanwhile, the reasons for the petite brunette's misfortunate situation, were having a nice coffee a few blocks away, the younger-looking one of the two yawning loudly.

"Sir, are you familiar with these kinds of places?" he asked, taking another sip of the beverage. "I imagine it'd be awkward to visit a family restaurant alone?"

The older man winced, before turning to look out the window, a distant look in his eyes. "Unfortunately, not as of late… I'd rather not talk about it, though…"

The first man's eyes widened, before staring at his coffee. "Sorry, August-san…"

August merely sighed, and looked to the sky.

"In our cabal," he said slowly, making his subordinate look up at him. "everyone has their own story to tell, their own legacy to pass down. But, one thing binds us together. Not our magics, nor our beliefs. It is our goal. Never forget that, Callum. Never stop striving for it."

Nodding, Callum sipped his coffee again, silently contemplating the man's words.

"Yes, sir." he whispered, gazing into the brown liquid's surface, and seeing nothing but a reflection.

..

"What the fuck…"

Accelerator had taken a walk. A simple, goddamn walk…

"...So why the hell is the apartment trashed?" the red-eyed teen yelled, his eye twitching in irritation, as he stood in front of the door.

There wasn't really a use for it, anymore, given a hole twice its size was right next to it.

..

 **In this one, Accelerator is a TSUN! I'm not gonna say dere, cuz I dunno who he's gonna 'dere'. Except Last Order, in a brotherly manner? Oh, and there was some deep stuff between August and Callum, huh. I just added it in there in the last moment, hope it floats your boat, or whatever.**


	13. I'll Change the Title When I Wake Up

**AN: Heyo, I'm back… with another chapter… I ran out of ideas last time… good night… I mean, enjoy…**

 **On second thought… I'll do this later… night.**

 **Okie, I'm back! Say, I should start working on my other fanfics again, ya… Maybe one of the FT ones? In any case, note that I am dividing this chapter into two halves. As for what they are… it'll be evident soon enough.**

 **Enjoy!**

..

Saten stared at her phone silently, her finger hovering over the 'Send' button. The black-haired girl was sitting with her friends at Joseph's, their usual meeting place. Mikoto and Uiharu seemed to have something on their minds, something that Kuroko picked up on easily, and was attempting to get them to reveal said something.

Saten, however, was preoccupied by her phone, the line blinking every second at the end of her short and quick message.

 _How are you so strong? As a Level 0, how can I attain that same power, to protect my friends?_

Now, normally Saten wouldn't bring things like this up, but she had seen her friends fight against the Dark Side of Academy City, even Uiharu. They all did their best to preserve the peace of the city, but Saten could only watch from the sidelines.

But, despite her own lack of power, she can't accept that. As an esper- no, as their _friend_ , she can't accept being unable to be there for them.

Her finger trembled over the button, conflicted. She knew, also, that the power Kamijou had was by his own hard work. If anything, he had a harder time achieving what he did, then what anyone else would've.

Clenching her eyes shut, she quickly tapped on her phone.

 _Hey, Kamijou-san! Can you meet me at the park later? Say, around 6? Thanks! ^_^_

Sighing, Saten inwardly grimaced at her own indecision before turning her attention to her friends.

..

Kamijou, feeling a buzz in his phone pocket, pulled out said phone. Tilting his head at the short message, he shrugged, hefting his schoolbag. Typing a quick 'Sure', he set it back inside his pocket and continued on his way.

Yawning slightly, he decided to head back and cook a quick meal for Index, otherwise… His eyes widening in realization, a broad smile crossed his face.

"This misfortunate Kamijou gives you his thanks, Itsuwa-san!" he exclaimed, drawing a few looks from the people around him, not that he noticed. Grinning widely, he thought over his schedule again, deciding to head straight to the park. It was already 5:30, and he had nothing else to do. It'd be nice to get a moment of silence or two, as well…

Humming in contentment, he turned around a corner, heading in a new direction.

..

Callum, August, and three other people, all cloaked, walked down a walkway. The appearance looked quite ridiculous, the five crowding the sole path in the apartment building.

August stopped by the door of a certain unlucky high schooler's room, nodding to the others. Taking a deep breath, the magician forcefully twisted the metal door handle, the material crumpling, and swung open the door.

Immediately, they were on guard, as were the people inside.  
"Who are you?" Kanzaki demanded, her hand flying to the handle of her nodachi.

Callum bowed deeply, the others behind him entering the room. "People whose business here will be done shortly, Miss Saint."

Narrowing her eyes, she lifted her weapon slightly, as the action was mimicked by Itsuwa and Agnese. Sherry had her magic at the ready, while Orsola walked just a bit closer to Index, having no power of her own apart from knowledge.

August and Callum reached under their own cloaks and responded in kind, August with a one-bladed polearm with magic runes running up the handle, and Callum with a silver kukri, the blade glowing slightly.

Two of the others raised their respective weapons, while the third just stayed behind, completely concealed in his cloak.

"Capture the Index." he said calmly.

"You can try. But you will fail." Kanzaki retorted.

With a roar, Callum made the first move. Dashing forwards, the man swung the polearm, parried by Shichiten Shichitou's sheath, blade still inside.

Grunting, he backed up when Itsuwa thrusted at him with her Friuli Spear, though she was quickly occupied by one of his companions, with a steel rod.

"Thanks, Mika." he muttered, diving back into his own fight with another stab to test out the waters.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw August confronting Agnese and Sherry in a 2v2, his teammate being Furusawa, who wielded a set of tonfas. Furusawa drew their attention, blocking the attacks with ease, while August quickly exploited any holes in their defenses he saw.

That wasn't to say their enemies were taking this lying down.

August dashed forwards again, only to be stopped a stone fist clasped around his foot. Grimacing, he smashed it by stomping with his other foot, but the distraction had served its purpose. Agnese quickly landed a series of blows, lacing August's arms, which he held in an X in front of him, with cuts as he jumped back. Quickly, he reoriented himself, sprinting to the redhead with an unnatural speed.

The young woman widened her eyes, but took action to counter by instinct, the staff sending another invisible blow towards her enemy. Smirking, August jumped out of the way, instead targeting Sherry Cromwell, as the blow intended for him shattered the puppeteer's golem. Quickly, Furusawa re-engaged in combat now that her prior opponent was destroyed, this time with Agnese.

The process repeated, with neither getting the higher ground as the matchups changed with every clash. Agnese was a bad matchup to August's speed and close combat, but August was weak to Sherry's Golems, which in turn lost easily to Furusawa's blunt-force attacks and strong defense. Then, Furusawa's defense had little effect when against Agnese, so it was pretty much a draw, as everyone was trying to find the best matchup, quickly counteracted by their opponents, resulting in the continuous switcheroos.

A particularly fierce attack made Callum flinch, his attention returning to the Saint with a glare. Stabbing it forwards, the polearm passed through empty space as Kanzaki evaded to the side, the polearm bouncing off of her blade's sheath again when it tried to give chase. Pivoting, Callum continued on his offensive as he jabbed the handle at his opponent.

Kanzaki ducked, shearing off a bit of the metal as Callum pulled it back. He found himself going on the defensive as the Priestess withdrew her blade from the sheathe, unleashing a flurry of attacks he couldn't even see. Backing up quickly, he bumped into a kitchen counter, ducking as a horizontal slash that would've decapitated him cleaved through an unlucky microwave. Activating the magic in his polearm, he quickly began to match her blow-for-blow.

Panting slightly, he leaned away from the confrontation, his opponent doing the same.

Eyes wandering to the back of his room, he grinned internally.

"It's time I take my leave." he said, drawing the attention of Kanzaki.

Said magician narrowed her eyes. "And what makes you think I'll let you just walk out like that?"

"I never expected you too."

Promptly, he took another step backwards, _into the counter_. A purple portal instantly encompassed him, sealing itself off as soon as he was in the clear.

"Son of a-"

..

 **I just realized I went a bit over my mark. But, meh. Too lazy.**


	14. Six O'Clock

**AN: Long time no see (again)! Happy Thanksgiving, can't wait for Super Smash Ultimate to come out, I hope a get an electronic sketchpad for Christmas, etc! I also rewatched a few Naruto episodes, considering watching Boruto, and finished Hamilton Musicals. They're awesome! Hope you enjoy the story.**

 **IMPORTANT: I'll include a description of Callum's abilities at the bottom, since I received quite a few requests for that. I was thinking of explaining it in-story, but the next time he fights seriously won't be for some time, and with my work ethic, it'll take… quite a while...**

 **ALSO IMPORTANT: Here's a list of the OCs so far. Reido, Fuyuko, and Kazuo are from the Science Side. Magic Side includes Callum, August, Maki, and the other two will be revealed later. They will all be important later on, as large portions of chapters will be dedicated largely to them.**

..

Kamijou looked up from his flip phone, stretching out his arms as he sat on the stone bench. He'd been there since a while ago, and was enjoying the silence, a stark contrast to his usual, misfortune-bound life.

"She should arrive soon." he mumbled, looking up at the sky. It was pretty late in the year, so the sky was darkening rapidly, and he sneezed a few times. Sighing, he pulled his jacket closer around him. The last thing he needed was to get sick.

"Need a tissue?"

"WAAAAAAAAH!"

Kamijou jumped out of his seat, turning around to see someone standing right behind where he was sitting. "What the- Don't surprise me like that! Who are you, even?"

The teen smiled broadly, giving a thumbs-up. "I'm Sogiita Gunha! GUTS!"

Kamijou sweatdropped at the second exclamation, but recognized the voice. "Ah! You were the one at my apartment this morning!"

Sogiita nodded in confirmation. Pausing, he looked down at his hand, then back at Touma. "So… You need a tissue?"

"...I'm good, thanks…" Touma said awkwardly, before a long silence ensued between the two. "Um… So, do you need something?"

Immediately, Sogiita slammed one fist into his palm. "Right! Kamijou Touma! I'm here to enlist your help on behalf of our group!"

"...Is this a joke or something?" Kamijou asked in disbelief. "I'm sorry, but this misfortunate Kamijou can't possibly be important enough to be sought out specifically, right? And what kind of group is it, anyways?"

Sogiita shook his head rapidly. "You have GUTS! The group would be a lot more effective if you join!"

"Like I said, what kind of group is this, even?" Touma wailed in reply.

"Right, well…" Sogiita opened his mouth to explain, but was cut off as another voice joined in.

"Touma-saaaaaaaan!"

Immediately, Touma turned to face the source of the call, grinning. "Hey, Saten!"

Just as quickly, he identified two of the three behind her. His smile wavered, and started sweating.

"That troglodyte has infected Saten too! Waaaaaah!"

"Hey, how come you don't react that way to me?"

"That's because you always try to shock me when you see me!" the teen retorted. "And I don't live in a cave!"

Kuroko ignored him, wailing unintelligibly into the distance as the Level 5 crossed her arms, sparks flickering between her hair.

"So? You always block it." she replied, a tick mark popping up as she recalled all the times he had blocked her attacks…

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT! It's not ok to attack someone out of nowhere every time you see him! What if I didn't notice in time?!" Kamijou replied, wincing at the thought of what would've occured. "Remember that time you used that Railgun on me? What were you thinking?"

Saten and Uiharu sweatdropped at the exchange, as Mikasa retorted and Kuroko wailed in the background. Occasionally, the boy with the headband would try to interject, but Mikasa quickly and effectively stomped him out.

"I knew they knew each other, but… This wasn't what I expected…" Saten smiled weakly, scratching her cheek.

Uiharu narrowed her eyes, finally recognizing the boy in front of them.

"You're that boy from yesterday! You're the Level 0!" she gasped. She flinched a little when all heads turned to her.

"Umm…"

..

"You got her?" Callum asked, stepping out of the portal, hands crossed. He had emerged in a

August nodded, looking over to a wizened old man standing next to him, whose cloak was most likely torn during combat. "Yes. Hisaki-san got our objective."

Callum nodded slowly, hand rubbing his chin. "That's good. What should we do next, Hisaki-san?"

The old man stroked his beard thoughtfully, before turning to look at their fifth, still cloaked member. "Did they get to see your face, or anything they might identify you with?"

The person shook their head.

"...Then you'll be out keeping an eye on things. Discard the cloak, we've no need for it anymore. The rest of you will start the preparations." Hisaki ordered, garnering a protest from Maki.

"But, sir!" the girl interjected. "We still don't have the final element for the ritual yet. Shouldn't we allocate some resources to obtaining it?"

Hisaki smiled, raising a hand as another portal appeared, this one a darker purple than before. "You shouldn't worry about that, little one. After all, I myself should be enough for that, don't you think?"

Maki's eyes widened, but nodded and looked down. "Right… Godspeed, Hisaki-san!"

"I'll see you in two days. Prepare the ritual, won't you?" the old man grinned in contrast to his age. With that, he stepped into his portal, which winked out of existence shortly after.

After a short moment of silence, Callum cleared his throat, making August and Maki turn their attention to him. "Right, well, let's get started on the preparations. I'll carry the Index to where we're keeping the Last Order. Can you two get to drawing the magic circle?"

"Yes, sir!" August replied, saluting stiffly. Maki stifled a laugh at this, before the duo left the room.

Callum chuckled at August's attempt to act official in front of Maki, before turning to look at…

"She's already gone, huh… Well, that's good. I should get to my own job."

Sighing, he bent down to carry the unconscious Index, leaving the room via the door opposite the direction of August and Maki earlier.

"I know you're looking for the Imagine Breaker… Just don't do anything too rash… Ava…"

..

 **Name: Callum Smith**

 **Patron: Nemesis**

 **Magic: Repentance- The caster has the ability to read the minds of his opponents, as well as boost his own speed. The effect is amplified depending on the strength of the negative emotions the opponent feels towards oneself.**

 **Bio: ?**


	15. OhMyGodIForgotAboutThisStory!

**AN: To be honest, I mostly forgot about this story… Sorry. Also chapters will be 3k words now instead of 1k.**

 **Oh yeah, so you guys were talking about how come Callum couldn't fight Kanzaki, right?**

 **Ok, here are my reasons:**

 **1\. Obviously, his magic (which I put at the end of last chapter) comes first. The speed boost is basically just magic enhancing the body, not really that rare I think. The first and third part are what makes it special: Mind-reading, based on how much self hatred the opponent has, is very useful, particularly on people like Kanzaki, who deeply regrets her actions to Index prior to meeting Touma.**

 **2\. Then there's the matter of location. Kanzaki's swordsmanship is great, but her special stuff comes from the wires. Those are better for ambushes and traps, or open, manipulative combat, whereas** _ **she**_ **was ambushed, the space was enclosed, and the battle was very short. Plus the techniques generally entail a bunch of destruction, which she'll try to minimize since they're in Kamijou's apartment.**

 **3\. He also knew basically everything about Kanzaki's fighting style, whereas she knew nothing about his.**

 **4\. Finally! I didn't say Callum beat Kanzaki. Callum fought her to a standstill, and was losing. Kanzaki was probably distracted by worrying about Index, too.**

 **Aaaand that's it!**

 **Also to make life easier for me, I'm writing down the names of everyone mentioned, and what group they're in.**

 **In Pursuit of Last Order: Accelerator.**

 **Park: Touma, Saten, Uiharu, Misaka, Kuroko, Sogiita, Reido, Fuyuko, Kazuo.**

 **Touma's Apartment: Kanzaki, Sherry, Agnese, Itsuwa.**

 **Warehouse: Callum, August, Maki, Index, Last Order, Orsola.**

 **Antagonists (Elsewhere): Ava, Hisaki.**

 **Komoe's Place: Yomikawa, Komoe, Himegami, Awaki.**

 **Location Unknown: Mugino, Frenda, Takitsubo, Kinuhata, Tsuchimikado, Fukiyose, Kazakiri, Misaki, Misaka Sisters.**

 **Unimportant: Aogami, Stiyl (He's gonna kill me for lumping em together).**

 **Misaka Worst isn't included since I don't know her.**

 **MIsaki is a maybe…**

..

Beads of sweat trickled down Touma's forehead as he examined the situation before him. This was bad, very, very bad.

"I-I'm sure we can talk this out, right…?"

The highschooler currently sat at the head of a picnic table in a certain park, the sources of his ire sitting on both sides.

Saten Ruiko, the one who he had arranged to meet with, sat to his right, smiling brightly. Does this girl of no sense of danger? After all, the glare directed at Kamijou was unmissable, especially since Kuroko's continuous mutterings made Kamijou pale.

Just past the pigtailed girl was Biri Biri… her gaze directed downwards and shadowed by her bangs. Speaking of, sparks of electricity flickered between them, making Touma even more nervous.

'She's calmed down, right? I-it's not like she's going to attack me again? Right!?'

"U-um…" Kamijou's gaze moved farther out, to… Kazari, was it? He looked over to Kazari-san, who sat between Kuroko and Saten, clutching her computer to her chest. "Sorry about that! I didn't think before shouting…"

Kamijou sighed, before smiling weakly and waving her off. "Don't worry about it, Kazari-san. Pretty much everyone here already knew, anyways…"

"Indeed! Kamijou-san's GUTS have done this city great services!"

Kamijou sweatdropped as he looked to his left. Sogiita Gunha, the 7th Ranked Level 5, had his fist pumped in the air. Beside him were three others, that arrived shortly after Uiharu's exclamation.

The boy had dark red hair, and was staring rather intensely at him, before ducking his head down when he realized he'd been caught. The girl with long, purple hair looked him up and down with crossed arms, before nodding in satisfaction and turning to look at the other side of the table.

The other girl, also with red hair, though the shade was closer to pink, bounced in place as she looked around. She'd apologized to Uiharu, Saten, and Touma, who were all fine with accepting said apology, and now the short girl looked like she wanted to talk with Uiharu but refrained from doing so.

Returning to the topic at hand, Kamijou looked back at Sogiita and shook his head. "Not at all, Sogiita-san. I'm just doing what everyone would do."

Everyone stared at him for a good second- including Misaka- before returning to whatever they were doing before, as if he hadn't said anything.  
Kamijou's eye twitched, and he was about to retort, when Saten placed her hand on his shoulder. "What is it, Saten?"

The girl raised an eyebrow, before giggling. "You realize the reason 'The Level Zero' rumor stands out is because _no one_ does it except you, right?"

Kamijou's eyes widened in realization, and he slumped back, grumbling. Saten giggled again.

"So, Saviour-sama," the red-haired boy started, having not noticed Kamijou's eye twitching again at the title. "can you consider joining our group? It will be very much appreciated."

Kamijou frowned, rubbing his forehead. "First off, _please_ don't call me Saviour. It makes me feel uncomfortable. Second, what does your group even do? I asked Sogiita-san earlier but never got an answer."

"They're a group that goes around trying to emulate the rumors that entail the Level 0, such as protecting other low-level civilians." Uiharu informed, drawing from the research from the past few days. "They've come to odds with Skill Out a few times, as they aren't against accepting help from mid to high-tier espers, but they haven't clashed for a while now. On the other hand, Anti-Skill is neither against nor for this group, as they're technically not doing anything wrong…"

"Of course we haven't. We're not criminals or anything." the purple-haired girl cut in with a light glare, making the smaller girl clam up immediately. "We just help out if we see something up, the only difference between us and Anti-Skill is that we're don't need to wait for permission, like dogs. We have bigger operations from time to time, too, to clean up some gang or other when Anti-Skill is too busy picking up trash at the park."

Kuroko bristled at the provocation, her glare (which had surprisingly stayed on Touma this entire time) swiveling to the girl. "Lies! Anti-Skill operates under the law and keeps the streets safe. Your group is nothing more than terrorism, hiding behind rumors and lies!"

"These 'terrorists' have saved more people in the last month than Anti-Skill has in the last three!" Fuyuko retorted angrily, slamming her hands on the table. "Meanwhile Anti-Skill is unable to act under direct orders from the higher-ups _not_ to interfere in half of the illegal activity happening right here, in the city!"

Upon the mention of the unsavory parts of Academy City, Misaka flinched and Touma frowned, his fist clenching. They both knew they've hardly scratched the surface of the Dark Side of Academy City, but it was more than enough…

"...You shouldn't get involved with those things…" Misaka said, getting everyone to look at her despite the quiet tone that she'd spoken in.

"O-Onee-sama?"

"Biri Biri's right." Touma agreed, nodding solemnly. "It's not something you should mess with. Not if you expect to come out the same… or come out at all."

Saten gulped audibly, recalling the stories she had wormed out of Touma a couple days prior. Back then, they seemed so fantastical, almost as if it was a story she'd read from a book, but… now it didn't seem as wondrous. It was real; all the blood, injuries, battles… deaths…

Beads of sweat trickled down her face. Was this what she was hoping to get into, by getting esper powers of her own? Maybe it was better if…

Before she could finish the thought, a hand was placed on her shoulder, gripping comfortingly. She looked up to see Touma, concerned and questioning. "You alright, Saten?"

The dark-haired girl nodded numbly, giving a shaky smile in return. She already had time to think about that during the Level Upper incident, she should focus on the topic at hand for now.

"A-ano… Do the higher ups really ignore the underground dealings in the city?" she asked, wanting one of them to disprove what the purple haired girl had said.

Kamijou rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well, sometimes there's some groups like the Black Crow Units from the Endymion Incident… But then there was that red-haired Teleporter-"

"Musume Awaki." Kuroko interjected, making Touma nod in thanks.

"Awaki-san, as well as the Level 6 Project, so the higher ups can also be considered the supporters of those activities?" Touma scratched his head confusedly. "From what I can tell, there's different factions within the Science Side, kinda like how it is in the Magic Side…"

At that point, he was more or less talking to himself, but that didn't stop the others from hearing what he had said.

"...Magic Side?!"

"Ah… Such misfortune!"

..

"He's not picking up…"

Kanzaki gritted her teeth, clenching Shichiten Shichitou tightly in her fist. "Does anyone know where the rogue magicians are?"

"I planted a tracker on one when they first blocked my golem." Sherry said, before tilting her head to the side for a few moments."They're in the Warehouse District."

Sighing once she saw that dark-skinned woman wasn't planning on providing any more information, Kanzaki pulled out a large, folded-up paper map of Academy City.

"The Warehouse District… Which one was that, again?"

Agnese peered over her shoulder and pointed to a section in the lower right corner. "It's District 11, and we're in District 7's southeast sector. We can make it there quickly, since District 22 is so small."

Kanzaki furrowed her brows. "District 22… That's the district that's developing technology for an underground town, correct? They dedicated an entire district to that?"

Agnese shrugged nonchalantly, going back to polish off the small scratches her Lotus Wand had sustained in the short battle. "They don't have magic or anything, so it's probably harder for them to get food, excluding imports. We can just speed up the growth or make a space compression after all."

Kanzaki frowned, but accepted the redheads lackadaisical response; it held some merit, as she hadn't really heard of any strong espers with abilities involving agriculture and the like.

"The majority of the district is underground, and earthquake-proof." Itsuwa supplied, hoping her information would be helpful. "It's probably the best place for their full plan, seeing as it is away from prying eyes, and strong enough to survive large impacts."

Kanzaki nodded. "Then it's most likely safe to assume that District 11 is merely a base of operations, or something like that. Even so, there's a chance that Index and Orsola are there. When is everyone ready to head out?"

The magicians all stood up, but Itsuwa raised her hand. "Shouldn't someone inform Kamijou-san about what happened? It _is_ why we're here in the first place."

"We could leave a note for him." Agnese proposed, tapping her platformed shoes, called chopine, impatiently.

"No need to wait for him to come back, just tape it to a small rock or something and I'll get a golem to deliver it." Sherry said. Although she also wanted to hurry, she also knew that Kamijou was probably their best trump card.

Itsuwa looked to Kanzaki, and the Head Priestess nodded. "A-alright, I'll write the note… Should we tell him to go to District 11 or 22?"

Kanzaki thought for a second, before replying. "22. If the enemy has prepared a magic circle there, then it's most prudent for the Imagine Breaker to destroy it as soon as possible. We can take care of the rogue magicians."

"Got it."

Quickly, the shy girl grabbed a stray notebook that laid on the kitchen counter, jotted something down, and tore out the page. Nodding in satisfaction after reading over the message, she pulled out a roll of duct tape from her bag - What? Duct tape was a necessary tool for all magicians - and stuck it onto a piece of debris before passing it over to Sherry for her to work her magic.

A few seconds later, all four magicians had left the apartment, while a small, humanoid pile of rocks with a piece of paper headed in a slightly different direction.

 _Touma-san. The rogue magicians have captured Index, we're after them now. Sherry tracked one to District 11, but there might be some in District 22, can you check that out? One of them uses portals, so be careful._

 _-Itsuwa_

..

 **(For the record Accelerator's language is probably M-rated but I'm not changing the rating just cuz of him.)**

A certain white-haired esper walked on the sidewalk, thinking hard. Rubbing his neck, or more precisely, the choker-style electrode on his neck, he thought back to the scene he had come back to at the apartment.

'Someone probably kidnapped the damn brat. But what's worse is that when I try to follow the connection on this device, I can't sense the brat at all. The Network is still up, but this thing is all over the place. I won't be able to use the more complicated calculations until I get the brat back…'

Grumbling to himself, he decided to turn to his best source of info for all things Academy City. Yomikawa Aiho, who, earlier today, had messaged him that she would be at a friend's house. The Anti Skill officer had come home drunk a few days ago, and said she'd promised her friend she'd go back soon to help her out with a problem student or something. That was most likely where she was now, so that was where Accelerator was heading to.

"This is the address she sent…" the teen muttered, looking between his phone and the house in front of him. Then, he looked at the stairs, and then his crutch.

"Fuck…"

..

Yomikawa hummed as she scrolled through her computer, numerous files of information showing up and disappearing. The woman had asked Uiharu to send her some files beforehand, which was what she was using now. She was also adding to the files, based on what Komoe was telling her.

Speaking of, the petite teacher was growing increasingly worried as she looked over her colleague's shoulder. "Kamijou-kun was involved in all those incidents? How come he never told me?"

Himegami, who had come to visit, and was currently holding a cup of tea while sitting at the kotatsu, set the tea down and patted her teacher's shoulder comfortingly. "Don't worry, sensei. Kamijou-kun doesn't think much of this side of his life, hence why he probably didn't tell you."

Behind the trio, with her own cup of tea, Musume Awaki hummed in thought but refrained from involving herself. She thought back to what she knew of this 'Kamijou-kun', which wasn't a lot.

Obviously, she knew about him from when she was fighting that damnable Shirai Kuroko, but she also knew a bit more about him from when she escorted Tsuchimikado Motoharu to the Windowless Building, where he talked to Aleister Crowley.

She couldn't remember much, but the blond had tried to make small talk 'with a beautiful girl such as herself' during the trip to and from the Windowless Building…

Shuddering at the flirting attempts, Awaki eyed the computer screen out of the corner of her eyes, wondering if there was anything in there she could use…

"Awaki-san, are you intere-"

"FUCK!"

The loud curse made everyone freeze, the silence allowing them to clearly hear the crash that followed. And it was right outside the door.

Suddenly, Yomikawa's eyes lit up and she walked to the door, peering through the peephole before nodding in satisfaction and opening the door. "Why are you here, Accelerator-kun? ...Pffft."

At that, Awaki froze, fearful memories of her encounter with the Strongest Level 5 flooding her mind, hardly registering the string of curses.

Komoe decided to follow her friend, and walked to the door, only to see the white-haired boy that had visited her class on Friday. "Eh? Can I help you today… Um, Accelerator, was it?"

Nobody noticed Himegami as she muttered about ill-tempered espers.

Outside, it was easy to see the source of the commotion. Accelerator had managed to successfully climb up the stairs, which were reminiscent of a fire escape thus making it harder to scale, but had failed on the last step, his crutch barely missing the step and falling into the gap between it and the platform. As such, all he could do was fall… And that was why The Strongest Esper was stuck on the stairwell, spouting curses as his crutch was half buried in said stairwell.

..

Kamijou sighed in relief as he finally managed to convince the group he was with to at least calm down enough to sit down and wait for an explanation.

The problem was, how was he going to explain? On one hand, he hardly understood the principles of magic himself, needing Index or someone else to explain everything he came across. On the other hand, what he _did_ understand amounted to terrorists and cults that used the power of mythology to fight.

Meanwhile, all eight people were looking at him expectantly, even Sogiita Gunha. As moments passed, they grew impatient, until Saten decided to poke his shoulder and draw his attention.

"Right, sorry, Saten. It's just, I don't really understand it myself?" Kamijou scratched his cheek sheepishly. "Usually Index or someone else explains it to me and I eliminate their… magic. I really wish no one from the Science Side knew anything about that side of things…"

Kamijou sighed again and rubbed his forehead tiredly.

"It's ok to not tell us the more complicated parts." Saten offered, feeling bad that he was feeling this stressed because of them. "Just enough to help us understand. Please?"

Kamijou nodded. "So, basically, there's two major factions in the world, the Magic Side and the Science Side. The Science Side is mostly based in Academy City, and the Magic Side in Europe."

Kamijou looked up, and they nodded to show that they were following along.

"Like we were talking about earlier, there are lots of subfactions in both sides, such as the Church of England and Necessarius, or the Kiharas-" Misaka gritted her teeth at that. "-and ITEM. Usually, the two sides are at a stalemate, and don't interfere with the other. However, from time to time a rogue magician, kind of like a rogue esper, starts causing trouble. On even rarer cases, they do it after sneaking into Academy City."

Cue the round of gasps. Kamijou smiled tiredly.

"Yep. That issue with the Underground Shopping Center was an example of that. Apparently a magician from the Church of England was lured into Academy CIty by a subfaction from the Science Side, but it was all resolved, and now Sherry's living with the others at the Necessarius Dorm. Most of the incidents aren't really that public or anything, like a few incidents I had with Agnese and the Roman Catholic Church and Necessarius. Most rogue magicians are without a faction, or were exiled but refused to admit it, or something like that."

Seeing that the spiky-haired boy was done, Reido stuck her hand up eagerly. "Ooh, ooh! I have question!"

Kamijou tilted his head to the side, indicating that he was waiting for the question, the red-pink-haired girl smiled widely, with stars in her eyes. "What's magic like?"

Immediately, everyone's attention was back on Kamijou, all wanting to know the answer. "W-well… Magic is kinda like esper powers? Except instead of only being able to do one thing, they can do a whole bunch of stuff, but requires time and effort. Like Stiyl uses both Runes and Fire Magic, plus most mages know how to set up anti-civilian barriers, and he can also summon a magical beast called Innocentius… Which may or not be classified as Fire Magic but I digress. The extent to which a mage can use magic is usually dependent on the mage him or herself, though."

Nodding in satisfaction, Reido sat down… but her eyes still glimmered brightly.

"Oh, and, uh… Espers can't use magic…"

Immediately the girl slumped down, a gloomy cloud appearing above her head.

On the other hand, this gave Saten some ideas…

Misaka slammed her hands down on the table. "Hold on, how do these magicians compare in terms of power to espers? You always end up in the hospital, yet I've never managed to land a scratch on you since… the Sisters thing."

The Level 5 trailed off, feeling guilty as she recalled when she electrocuted the boy… Several times… which most likely attributed to how he was injured during the fight with Accelerator… which landed him in the hospital…

"Well…" Kamijou hummed as he tapped the table thoughtfully. "I know a few that might be able to fight Accelerator to a standstill for a while? But that's only because of the nature of their magic. A lot of magicians are Level 5 in terms of power, I imagine."

Misaka inhaled deeply, looking as if she was about to yell something, probably to call BS on him, but managed to force herself to sit down. "...Fine. So you've been handling all these situations alone. Why on earth didn't you tell anyone?"

Kamijou frowned, and opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off as a loud clanking sound entered the vicinity.

"W-what is that?" Uiharu stuttered out. Nobody was able to give a reply, but Saten squeezed the shoulder of her best friend gently.

The source of the sound soon came into view, as a small, humanoid structure, no taller than the bench that it just passed.

"...A golem!" Kamijou exclaimed, recognizing the stone golem. Rushing over to it, he raised a brow as he saw a piece of paper on its back. The others gathered around him curiously.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the trek here was not easy.

THe note was covered in mud.

"What the-" Kamijou grabbed the paper, scanning what little he could read of it, growing paler by the second.

"I have to go."

..

 _Touma-sa/rogue mag/ptured Index/after them now/ Sherry/ked one/one in District 22 / you / portals/ careful._

 _It/wa_

..

Saten frowned at the quickly disappearing Kamijou as he sprinted into the distance. Behind her, Kazuo picked up the piece of paper that Kamijou had dropped in his rush.

"What the heck, it's all dirty…" the boy muttered, squinting as he tried to decipher what it said. "...Fuyuko, can you read this?"

The girl leaned over, before her eyes widened. "Gunha-san! There's trouble!"

..

 **Yay… Finally done...**


	16. Apologies

**Note: I am posting this on all my unfinished stories.**

 **My sincere apologies for the long delay. Unfortunately for those who've hoped for a future update, I've grown unmotivated to write fanfiction (in case you couldn't tell). While this may be irresponsible, I also believe leaving any hopefuls hanging is also irresponsible.**

 **As such, here is my formal statement: I am dropping all my stories and putting them up for adoption.**

 **If anyone adopts a story, please PM me, and I will notify the readers. If you have any difficulty in writing the story, know that I am willing to extend a helping hand.**

 **Thank you for reading this, and sorry.**

 **~DeltaWing13**


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